EAP Students Research Articles

Can Using a Discussion-board Enhance Writing Practice for EAP/ESL Students?

This paper presents a case study from English for Academic Purpose II ESL class at a small public university in southwest Oklahoma, USA. The study explores the usefulness of using computer-assisted technology such as a discussion-board to improve ESL teaching and learning. The study set up two hypotheses: 1) Using a discussion board as a course platform can enhance reading and writing practice for EAP students, and 2) using a discussion board as a course platform can help EAP students receive more feedback for improving their reading and writing. To test the hypotheses, the researchers collected and analyzed the students’ original and revised reading reflections and peer responses to the reflections. They also held a focus group interview among the participants to understand the students’ perceptions on their reading and writing practice on the discussion board. The findings support both hypotheses. The findings show that due to some technological features of a discussion board, the EAP students obtained more additional writing opportunities than they would in a traditional classroom setting and were able to write, receive feedback, and revise more frequently and effectively. The findings also indicate that writing reading reflections and peer reviews on a discussion board motivated the EAP students to write more carefully and thoughtfully and helped them gain a sense of learning community outside the classroom.

Preparing Diverse Learners for University: A Strategy for Teaching EAP Students

With a burgeoning international student population, most universities around the world offer English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. Because classes are so diverse, it is challenging to meet the specific needs of EAP students. Keeping this status quo as a departure point, the authors discuss a five‐prong strategy for teaching EAP, which involves academic culture acclimatization, student voice, teachable moments, reflection, and autonomy. They discuss this teaching strategy with specific examples, arguing that it helps provide a common reference point that all EAP instructors can use as heuristics, regardless of the context of their teaching. In addition, it promotes student‐centeredness in the EAP classroom and encourages students to become more involved in the learning process.

On Text Interpretation, Summary Production, and Pragmatic Fatigue in EAP Written Discourse

The intent of this interdiscursive endeavor is to argue that EAP text interpretation (reading) and production (writing) can be effectively integrated through the task of summary writing (SW), which academically-oriented students must be able to perform. A discourse-level error analysis enabled us to focus on various features of the summaries which, taken together, indicate how well the (SW) class students had mastered both the goals of text interpretation and the conventions of summary writing, the identification of superordinate and subordinate points, the inclusion of an opening statement of the gist of the primary text, explicit reference to the primary author and text, and successful paraphrasing and representation of substantial claims without pragmatic failure or cross-cultural fatigue. It is a pragmatic feasibility to teach EAP students to be discourse analysts to the extent required by this discourse relevant task, and by learning to do such analysis, they can, in psycholinguistic coinage, integrate formative techniques of comprehension by production and summative techniques of production by comprehension.

What is EAP? — From Multiple Literacies to a Humanistic Paradigm Shift

EAP researchers have proffered definitions of EAP; however, some of these are contradictory. Therefore, effectively defining the scope, aims, and pedagogy of EAP can prove problematic. This essay will extract the shared aspects from popular EAP approaches and then place them into the broader context of EAP development, language teaching and literacy history, and the changing history of the educational landscape. This will make it possible to thematise current EAP theories critically, to further defined the nature of EAP as a combination of multiple literacies, including academic literacy, disciplinary cultural literacy, critical literacy, and digital literacy. Without opportunities to experience the research process directly, the multiple literacies of EAP remain in the domain of classroom knowledge, failing to include preparation for the realities students will encounter when doing research. However, if EAP students, future academics, are well equipped with techniques for doing research and writing papers, but perform research to benefit themselves only, who will speak out for the needs of society? Therefore, in a Neo-liberalism influenced higher education society, EAP should not only be viewed as a utility but should stress the humanistic goals of academic research and the moral responsibilities of those who become academics. Current study suggests a theoretical and pedagogical shift bending towards humanistic EAP.

The Impact of Authentic Context in an EAP setting on Reading Motivation

While authenticity is recurrently associated with higher motivation, the question remains how an authentic context can affect reading motivation in an EAP setting. To investigate the effect, two groups of 30 EAP students were selected through cluster random sampling as control and experimental groups. A mixed methods approach was employed to collect data. The quantitative method encompassed the administration of the reading motivation questionnaire and the qualitative methods were the focus group interview and diary writing. Having administered the pretest of the reading motivation questionnaire at the beginning of the study, the researchers administered the posttest after the 8-week intervention of providing an authentic context. The findings revealed that the experimental group (Authentic context) had a higher reading motivation after the intervention as compared to the control group (traditional context). The interview findings also supported the quantitative findings. Moreover, the data from the diaries shed more light on the students’ general views of the two contexts such as their impressions of the tasks and activities, impressions of what was enjoyable and what was not, and the reactions to the instructor and the peers.Key term: reading motivation, EAP, authentic text; authentic task, authentic contextÂ

Textuality in EAP Research Articles: A Genre Analysis

One of the main concerns of scholars working in the field of EAP over the last 2decades has been raising the awareness of EAP students and publishers of genreconventions in academic journals. In line with the above concern, many studies haveaimed at exploring the general characteristics of research articles (RAs) in the field.Among these features, it seems that the generic moves and textuality have drawn theattention of researchers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (1) tocompare and contrast the Iranian local ESP journals with their internationalcounterparts in terms of the given features by drawing upon existing research, and(2) to develop a more inclusive model for the analysis of moves and lexical cohesionpatterns (LCPs) in the Discussion sections of ESP RAs. Results showed that theDiscussion sections in the international ESP RAs tended to have a more cyclicalevaluative move mechanism compared with their Iranian local counterparts.Findings also revealed that the organizational patterning and use of the LCPs inconsolidating the Results sections of the RAs have a dual intrinsic relationship.Translation of such findings provides a better chance for nonnative EAP writers topublish in international journals.

An EAP Program and Students’ Success at a Canadian University

Many universities have instituted intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs to support international students. This qualitative study used interviews to gain insights into the experiences of 8 non-native English speaking (NNES) students who completed an EAP program before they enrolled in disciplinary courses at a Canadian university. We followed and interviewed these students as they studied in the EAP program and then moved through the first term of university to identify how the EAP program prepared them for disciplinary courses. Results of the study illustrate that students’ responses to the EAP program were mostly positive; all 8 students reported improvements and increased confidence in speaking and writing as they embarked on university classes. However, the participants reported challenges in their first term of university, including difficulty in understanding lectures, completing more complex writing tasks, adjusting to new expectations, and seeking social or peer support. The participants reported that all these challenges would have been greater had they not taken the EAP courses. Recommendations based on the findings are discussed. Plusieurs universites ont etabli des programmes intensifs d’anglais academique pour appuyer les etudiants internationaux. Cette etude qualitative s’est basee sur des entrevues pour obtenir un apercu des experiences de 8 etudiants n’ayant pas l’anglais comme langue maternelle qui ont complete un programme d’anglais academique avant de s’inscrire a des cours lies a une discipline academique dans une universite canadienne. Nous avons suivi ces etudiants et les avons interviewes pendant qu’ils suivaient le programme d’anglais academique et ensuite lors de leur premier semestre d’universite pour identifier dans quelle mesure le programme d’anglais academique les avait prepares pour les cours reguliers. Les resultats revelent que les etudiants ont reagi de facon surtout positive au programme d’anglais academique; tous les 8 etudiants ont signale des ameliorations et une confiance accrue face a l’anglais oral et ecrit quand ils avaient commence leurs cours universitaires. Toutefois, les participants ont evoque des defis pendant leur premier semestre a l’universite, y compris de la difficulte liee a la compre- hension des cours, les tâches ecrites plus complexes, l’ajustement aux nouvelles attentes et la recherche d’appui social ou des pairs. Les participants ont declare que ces defis auraient ete encore plus importants sans les cours d’anglais academique qu’ils avaient suivis. Nous discutons de recommandations decoulant des resultats.

ITERATIVE MULTI-DRAFT MODELIN EXPOSITORY PROBLEM-SOLUTION COMPOSITION

University writing teachers in EFL writing programs are likely familiar with multi-draft composing. The researcher argues that multi-draft composing as it is currently used within second language writing programs can be overwhelming for EFL student. In this study, He introduces the iterative multi-draft model, a revised and more manageable version of the traditional multi-draft model, in EFL context. In a traditional multi-draft model, students generally complete a composition as part of a stand-alone, fixed-form writing unit and then move on to an entirely new and often unrelated genre. The students in this model learn a writing process and practice it in three unique and apparently unrelated compositions. Students in the iterative model learn a process and repeat it three times in compositions that clearly build on one another. He applies this model on EAP students to help master essential writing skills in expository composition. A study of 108 compositions written by 36 students in three meetingswithin two weeks in EAP course at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember ITS Indonesia rated by 2 raters demonstrates that the new model can be effective in improving students’ composition. The iterative model through a series of repeated measure univariate ANOVA produces a statistical effect on writing scores in three writing sub skills (content, F(5.34) at Sig 0.01, organization, F(15. 59) at Sig 0.00, grammar, F(16.91) at Sig 0.00, and overall F(20.31) at Sig 0.00). Additionally, the students’ perceptions of the model on 5 Likert-scale questionnaire further indicate that they have positive perspectives on their experience in applying this model (Mean = 4.42). This result supports the need for EFL writing instructors to continue to develop materials that teach the skills of process writing, genre recognition, and reader awareness. It also suggests to the prospective writer to read and understand at least three models before starting to write.

A Comparison of Turkish and Bosnian EAP Students' Adoption of Language Learning Strategies

The number of the undergraduate Turkish students studying at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina has increased over the past few years. They usually study at universities where the language of instruction is English, namely International University of Sarajevo and International Burch University. This research explores the differences in adoption of language learning strategies between Turkish and Bosnian university students learning English for Academic Purposes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Fall 2015, one hundred and forty Bosnian (N=140) and ninety-two Turkish (N=92) freshman university students were surveyed with the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning ‒ SILL 7.0 (Oxford, 1990) at International University of Sarajevo. The results analysis revealed statistically significant differences in the adoption of Memory, Cognitive, and Affective strategies. The analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in the adoption of Compensation, Metacognitive, and Social strategies. However, an independent T-test showed a statistically significant difference in the overall adoption of the SILL strategies. The results imply that EAP instructors need to design courses which personalize instruction and facilitate adoption of different language learning strategies.

EAP education in Iran: Where does the problem lie? Where are we heading?

As a large-scale nation-wide triangulated project, the present study first aimed at investigating whether the perception of needs varied significantly from the viewpoints of EAP teachers, EAP students and syllabus designers. Second, the satisfaction rate of EAP students with EAP programmes was also surveyed. The study was additionally designed to observe (35) EAP courses to get a real picture of the status of EAP education in Iran. To these ends, two versions of the same questionnaire were distributed among the participants (i.e. 831 EAP students and 55 EAP teachers of the same classes) and their results were compared with the needs specified by thirty syllabi. Finally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 students and 25 teachers. The data obtained were analysed both quantitatively using frequency, chi-square, and Kruskal-Wallis analyses, and qualitatively adopting content analysis. The results revealed the stakeholders involved had significantly different perceptions of needs. Reading comprehension, however, was perceived by all to be the main need of EAP students. Serious problems were raised by students and teachers regarding the sources, materials, students' general English proficiency level, duration and timing of the classes, motivation level of both students and teachers, etc. which are discussed in the paper.

Studying power relations in an academic setting: Teachers' and students' perceptions of EAP classes in Iran

Informed by critical EAP theory, this study included a “rights analysis” (as opposed to “needs analysis”) of Iranian students and teachers in EAP classes in the Iranian higher education system. More particularly, this study examined to what extent the EAP curriculum is informed by students' and teachers' feedback. Data for this study came from a survey and follow-up interviews with a number of Iranian EAP students and teachers. Analysis of the data reveals that there is little or no interaction among students, teachers and department officials in constructing the EAP curricula and classroom practices. Students were seen to be powerless and passive recipients who had to enact the institutional requirements defined a priori by the departments or curriculum developers. We discuss implications for EAP teachers as well as curriculum developers who can encourage students to ask questions and make suggestions for pedagogical change.

Comparing the Lexical Features of EAP Students’ Essays by Prompt and Rating

Previous research has shown that high frequency lexical items, such as AWL words and formulaic expressions, may differentiate between texts written by ex- pert and novice writers (Chen & Baker, 2010; Hancioğlu, 2009), and that lexical features related to breadth, depth, and accessibility differentiate among texts from L2 writers of different proficiency levels (Crossley & McNamara, 2009, 2012; Crossley, Weston, McLain Sullivan, & McNamara, 2011). The current study compared the essays written by EAP students in response to either a cause or an effect writing prompt. As part of their EAP writing class, the students (N = 94) had two weeks to read six source texts and take notes to prepare for an integrative-writing exam. Students’ essays were assessed by three raters using a holistic rubric, and five lexical features of their essays were analyzed: percentage of AWL word use, content word frequency, word familiarity, imagability, and lexical diversity. The results indicated that responses to the effect prompt were rated sig- nificantly lower than cause essays, contained more frequent and familiar words, and had a lower percentage of AWL words. However, there was no significant correlation between essay ratings and lexical features. Potential explanations for the findings and pedagogical implications are discussed. Des recherches antérieures ont révélé que les items lexicaux à haute fréquence, tels la liste des mots académiques et les formules rigides, peuvent varier selon que le texte soit écrit par un expert ou un débutant (Chen & Baker, 2010; Hancioğlu, 2009), et que les éléments lexicaux liés à l’envergure, la profondeur et l’accessi- bilité varient dans les textes écrits par des auteurs L2 de compétences différentes (Crossley & McNamara, 2009, 2012; Crossley, Weston, McLain Sullivan, & McNamara, 2011). La présente étude a comparé des rédactions écrites par des élèves d’anglais académique où la tâche d’écriture évoquait des causes ou des effets. Le cours d’anglais académique exigeait que les élèves (N=94) lisent, en deux semaines, six textes originaux et qu’ils prennent des notes pour se préparer à un examen écrit intégratif. Trois évaluateurs se sont appuyés sur une rubrique globale pour analyser cinq éléments lexicaux : pourcentage de l’utilisation des mots de la liste des mots académiques, fréquence des mots lexicaux, capacité à évoquer des images mentales et diversité lexicale. Les résultats démontrent que les évaluations des rédactions basées sur la tâche d’écriture évoquant des effets étaient nettement inférieures aux évaluations des rédactions basées sur la tâche d’écriture évoquant des causes. Ces premières comptaient également plus de mots familiers et répandus, et moins de mots figurant dans la liste des mots académiques. Les auteurs présentent des hypothèses pour expliquer ces résultats, ainsi que les impli- cations pédagogiques de leur recherche.

The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Beliefs about Language Learning: A Study of Iranian Postgraduate EAP Students

This study explored the probable interaction between Iranian language students’ beliefs about language learning and their socio-economic status. To this end, 350 postgraduate students, doing English courses at Islamic Azad University of Neyshabur participated in this study. They were grouped in terms of their socio-economic status. They answered a questionnaire in which they indicated their beliefs about language learning in different contexts of language use. The quantitative data were subjected to a set of parametric statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics. The findings manifested a positive relationship between the participants’ economic status and their beliefs about language learning. The findings reflected that social factors exert substantial influence on the process of language learning and language teachers should be highly qualified to make professional judgment about the actual language ability of language learners to decrease error of measurement. Language teachers should also create pleasant learning environment fostering learners' positive attitude toward language learning.

Motivation Level: A Study on the Effect of an Authentic Context

While authenticity is discussed as having positive effects on language learning motivation, the question remains how it can affect motivation level in an EAP context. The present paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental mixed-method study on the effect of an authentic context thorough the integration of authentic texts and tasks on the motivation level of EAP students. Having triangulated the quantitative data of the questionnaire and the qualitative data of the interview and diaries, the findings of the study suggest that a higher motivation level was achieved by the students in the authentic context as compared to the students in the traditional context. Moreover, the students’ diary entries revealed some in-depth information about the most appealing tasks and also the positive experiences of the students in the authentic context.

Learner reflections in virtual vs. blended EAP classes

This study compared students’ group work experiences in virtual and blended classes in an EFL context. The study was conducted during an academic semester and the participants comprised of two groups of Iranian EAP students in mainstream education system and virtual education context. To probe the factors influencing student group work experiences and how these factors might affect student performances in virtual and blended environments, we adopted a mixed-method approach. For the collection of quantitative data, a survey adapted from Smith et al. (2011) was used. For further investigation, data were gathered through comments the participants made, semi-structured interviews, and teacher observations. The findings revealed that students in the virtual class proved significantly more enthusiastic about collaborative work compared to students in the blended class. Our analysis of qualitative data confirmed that anticipation of problems and development of communication plans were found in the learners in the virtual group, whereas personality clashes were commonly observed among the learners in the blended environment. The results promise implications for teachers in order to identify challenges the English learners may face in online instructional environments and think of strategies to help them overcome problems and engage in active participation in online activities.

A comparison of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) between Iranian EFL and EAP learners

The present study was undertaken to investigate whether 1) there is any significant difference between EFL and EAP learners in terms of willingness to communicate, 2) there is any significant difference in WTC of Iranian EFL/EAP learners with 1- Native speakers, 2- Nonnative speakers and 3- In class context, and 3) there is any significant difference between male and female EFL learners in terms of willingness to communicate. To these ends 363 undergraduate students (131 EAP students and 232 EFL students) studying at Bu-Ali Sina University-Hamedan and Azad University of Mashad during the academic year of 2013-2014 participated in this study. Data were collected through a 5 point Likert-scale Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language Scale (WTC-FLS) questionnaire containing 21 statements. The instrument was composed of three subscales measuring, 1- willingness to communicate with native speakers of English (WTC-NS), 2- willingness to communicate with foreigners who are not native speakers of English (WTC-NN), and 3- willingness to communicate in the school context (WTC-SC). Using factor analysis and pilot testing, the questionnaire was found to have an acceptable validity rate. Also, using Chronbach’s alpha, the reliability of the questionnaire was estimated to be 0.93. Using SPSS, the results of independent samples t-test indicated that, overall, there was a significant difference between EFL and EAP learners in terms of their willingness to communicate. Furthermore, the results of one-way ANOVA for subscales of WTC-FLS revealed a significant difference in WTC of both EFL and EAP learners with native speakers, nonnative speakers and in class context. That is while EFL learners were more willing to communicate with native speakers of English and less willing to communicate with nonnative speakers of English, EAP learners were found to be more willing to communicate with native speakers of English and less willing to communicate in class context. Finally, no significant difference was found between male and female EFL learners in terms of willingness to communicate. Implications and recommendations for future research are also addressed.

An Assessment of the English Language Needs of the Second-Year Undergraduate Hospitality Students of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand

An Assessment of the English Language Needs of the Second-Year Undergraduate Hospitality Students of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand

A Comparison of Iranian EAP Students and EFL Majors on the Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The present study set out to investigate vocabulary learning strategies adopted by 173 undergraduate students (89 EAP students and 84 EFL majors studying at Bu-Ali Sina University-Hamedan, Iran). The data collection instrument adopted was a validated Likert-scale structured questionnaire. The results of independent samples t-tests indicated that, overall, the two groups were not significantly different in the choice and use of vocabulary learning strategies. However, running Chi square analyses, significant differences were found in individual strategy use in 7 out of 45 strategies. The implications of the study are discussed in detail in the paper.

Vocabulary Knowledge Assessment of Iranian EAP Undergraduate Students

Learning vocabulary and promoting the vocabulary knowledge has always been an important issue for the learners of English as a second or foreign language; this is also the case for EAP students who are in the state of studying General English and those who develop materials for the named students. The present study aimed at measuring the vocabulary knowledge of the undergraduate students from three faculties (Engineering, Sciences, and Humanities) at the University of Kashan. The instruments used for this study were a Receptive Vocabulary Levels Test Version B (originally developed by Nation (1983)) and observation. The results showed that the overall vocabulary knowledge of the undergraduate students from these faculties was not the one considered acceptable for an EAP undergraduate student since compared to the perfect score for the Receptive Vocabulary Levels Test Version B, the scores these students obtained were much lower; also there was a difference among the vocabulary knowledge of the undergraduate students belonging to different faculties. In other words, the EAP undergraduates of Engineering Faculty achieved the highest score while the EAP undergraduates of Sciences achieved the lowest and those of Humanities Faculty had a place in the middle. The results of the present study can be applied by textbook writers to develop the General English textbooks with the vocabulary words which are really essential for the students.

Relationship between University Level and Employment of Language-Learning Strategies: A Study of EAP Learners

This study scrutinized the relationship between utilizing language-learning strategies and university levels in reading-comprehension process of language learners in Iran. The participants comprised 406 EAP students at three university levels. The findings reflected significant differences among the students in implementing learning strategies. The students at higher university levels employed overall, direct, and indirect strategies significantly more frequently than the students at the lower stages. The results also revealed that 63% of the variance in the implementation of learning strategies could be due to the participants’ university levels. The findings are of significance because they can help language teachers tailor effective strategic-based language-teaching programs to the academic needs of the students at different stages of learning. The findings can assist language teachers in identifying problematic areas at different stages of learning enabling them to do remedial work with unsuccessful learners.