English For Academic Purposes Contexts Research Articles

Enhancing student writing with do-it-yourself corpora on a PhD pre-sessional programme

As an effective writing course should focus on disciplines and their unique characteristics, practitioners of English for academic purposes (EAP) are often faced with the challenge of addressing the different needs of learners from various fields of study. This article reports on how a data-driven learning (DDL) approach can be applied to enhance student written production in a multidisciplinary classroom in a 10-week PhD pre-sessional programme at a British University. The participants were six international students who used a do-it-yourself (DIY) corpus in weekly DDL sessions to familiarize themselves with discipline-specific academic writing conventions and applying them in their writing. The effectiveness of this approach was investigated through a ‘talk around texts’ technique employed in semi-structured interviews with individual students and their supervisors on programme completion. The findings show that a DDL approach utilizing a DIY corpus has the potential of enhancing PhD student writing in a multidisciplinary classroom on a pre-sessional programme. This article suggests that DDL could be successfully implemented not only in PhD pre-sessional programmes, but also in wider EAP contexts.

Microaggressions to microaffirmations: A trioethnography of plurilingual EAP instructors

This article is based on a qualitative study exploring the intersectional identities and practices of three plurilingual English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors at three major Canadian universities. The research objective was to investigate how the authors' lived experiences had informed their plurilingual teaching practices (Galante, 2019; Piccardo, 2019). As such, the authors conducted and participated in a series of trioethnographic interviews which focused on their personal and professional experiences with plurilingualism. Rooted in duoethnographic methodologies (Lowe & Lawrence, 2020; Norris & Sawyer, 2012), this trioethnographic inquiry involved a process of critically juxtaposing lived experiences in relation to common intersections and chosen themes in order to arrive at multiple, contextualized understandings of a shared phenomenon. Through this trioethnographic study, the authors found that each of them had engaged in a process of adopting new plurilingual perspectives and, subsequently, shifted their teaching practices along a spectrum of linguistic and cultural microaggressions to ‘plurilingual microaffirmations’. Drawing on findings from the EAP context, this article proposes a typology of plurilingual microaffirmations. The article also advances the trioethnographic method as a critical practice by illustrating how the trioethnographers incorporated participatory, iterative, and multimodal elements into their inquiry.

The Dynamics of Multimodal Literacy Development: The Tunisian EAP Context as a Case Study

The present study aims to explore the dynamics of multimodal literacy development in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Ten Tunisian PhD students from the field of management participated in the present study. They displayed disparate features (visual proficiency, background knowledge and attitudes to verbal and visual modes). The participants were requested to perform three tasks based on a research article (RA) gauging visual comprehension and design skills. The present study demonstrates that, while performing the tasks, the participants construe meaning out of the multimodal text from purely visual data and from the combination of modes. The participants are also required to cope with the divergence in the realization of meaning across the verbal and visual modes. Therefore, the present study argues for the combined use of the theories of functionalism, genre analysis and the social semiotic theory of the grammar of graphical design for the identification and classification of these skills that enabled the study participants to perform the tasks. The results of the study have revealed that multimodal literacy in EAP is an interactive process involving a dynamic dialogue between the participants and the multimodal RA. Participants with different features (background knowledge, visual proficiency, attitudes to the modes) displayed distinct abilities at coping with the cognitive requirements imposed by the multimodal text.

Assessing the writing quality of English research articles based on absolute and relative measures of syntactic complexity

Prediction of writing quality based on various linguistic features has greatly supported writing assessment in academic contexts. Research article (RA) is an important academic genre widely taught and assessed in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) writing courses, but there is little research exploring the assessment of RA writing quality on the basis of linguistic features, which may have the potential to assist teachers’ evaluation of students’ RA drafts. The present study aims to explore whether features of syntactic complexity can effectively predict RA writing quality. To represent syntactic complexity as a multidimensional construct, we employed traditional absolute measures and the newly proposed relative measures related to the use of verb argument constructions (VACs). Robust predictors of writing quality were identified at both the whole RA level and the part-genre level. It is found that VAC-based measures are more useful for indexing the writing quality of RAs at whole text level, while absolute measures have a stronger predictive power at part-genre level. Our research also shows that the relationships between writing quality and syntactic complexity are subject to part-genre variation. Implications for language teaching and assessment in the EAP context are discussed.

Exploring EAP instructors' evaluation of classroom‐based integrated essays

Due to its authenticity as an academic writing task, integrated writing assessment has become widely used for assessing the writing ability of English for academic purposes (EAP) students (Plakans & Gebril, 2017). However, apart from validation studies focusing on a common set of standardized test rubrics (e.g., Chan, Inoue, & Taylor, 2015), little research has explored the construct of integration or how to assess it effectively in EAP contexts. To provide second language (L2) writing researchers and practitioners with an empirically based model of source integration, this study explored EAP instructors' orientations when assessing integrated essays and investigated the relationship between instructor ratings and textual measures of source use. Six experienced EAP instructors first evaluated two sample argumentative essays written by undergraduate English L2 students and provided comments through a stimulated recall interview. Next, they evaluated 48 additional argumentative essays using an analytic rubric that included dimensions of source use and provided comments for each essay. Finally, the essays were analyzed for linguistic and rhetorical features associated with source integration. Triangulation of data sources revealed that the instructors oriented to three aspects of source integration: using source information to support personal claims, incorporating source‐text language in students' own words, and representing source content accurately. Their ratings were correlated with text‐based measures of students' source use. Implications for teaching and assessing integrated writing in EAP settings are discussed.

Curriculum development in English for academic purposes: a guide to practice. Martin Guardado and Justine Light (2020). Palgrave, Cham, 134 pages, ISBN: 978-3-030-47467-6.

To facilitate learners’ development of skills needed to study in English-medium academic settings, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) came into being as an important area of English language teaching (Charles & Pecorari, 2016). Due to the rich diversity involved in EAP contexts, EAP practice encounters unique challenges. To address these challenges, curriculum design tailored to EAP is a necessity. The volume provides a timely contribution to this specific filed.

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Lecturers' perceptions of formative assessment integration in the Thai EAP context

Evaluation processes must be conceived in line with learner-centered emphasis though instruction in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is grounded on learner-centered approaches, EAP- English for Academic Purpose, which is considered as a major important functional feature of the language. Formative evaluation is major evaluation approach that provides various advantages for EAP students. This study examined (n=50) the perception of lecturers in three Thai universities, including Walailak, of including the inclusion of formative assessments in EAP instruction. The findings showed that, despite several obstacles to its implementation, lecturers have adapted optimistic attitudes to the use of formative evaluation in EAP education through studies and interviews. In addition, the instructors knew the merits of EAP training assessment. However, the expertise and the knowledge required for the formational assessment of EAP instructions were not available to them. The main evaluation in the form of the final examination was summative. This study suggests that formative evaluation should be taken into account in the EAP curriculum. Â Â Â

Teachers’ perspectives on the causes of rater discrepancy in an English for Academic Purposes context

Abstract Many studies have focused on discrepancies in scoring writing, focusing on determining rater types, rubrics and their interpretation, and the factors that make a particular paper hard score. This qualitative study attempts to understand sources of discrepancy from the perspective of the raters themselves. Teachers from an English medium university freshmen academic skills programme provided scores and comments on an exemplar paper with an analytic, three-criteria rubric. Results reveal considerable differences within content and organisation criteria. In the next stage, unstructured interviews were conducted with three teachers from the programme, and their perspectives on rating were compared, and used to interpret possible causes of discrepancies in the first stage. Although the interviewees’ attitudes to the scoring process were broadly similar in terms of accounting for discrepancies, each had a different focus: on institutional factors, teacher role, and the rating process, respectively. The implications for L2 writing standardization are discussed.

Learner Personality and Response to Oral Corrective Feedback in an English for Academic Purposes Context

Corrective feedback (CF) is an important part of effective instruction, and a rich body of research has investigated how best to implement various CF strategies and approaches. Researchers have increasingly become aware of individual difference that have an impact on the effect and effectiveness of CF. One area of individual difference that has been shown to influence learning outcomes is personality; yet, findings have been inconsistent, and the influence of learners’ personality traits on oral CF effectiveness has largely been neglected. This study aimed to fill this gap by investigating how learners with different personalities experience and benefit from different types of oral CF. Situated in an intact class of adult language-learners in an academic context, data collection included a Five Factor Model (FFM) personality test, video and audio recordings of classroom activities, and individual interviews/stimulated-recall sessions. The findings of this study suggest that personality traits do appear to play a role in how students experience CF. Relationships between global FFM personality traits and CF response emerged: competitiveness and perfectionism characteristics appeared influential and a possible interaction between agreeableness and neuroticism is discussed. Pedagogical implications are suggested.
 La rétroaction corrective est une partie importante de l’instruction efficace, et un important corpus de recherche s’est penché sur la meilleure façon de mettre en place des stratégies et des approches de rétroaction corrective. Les chercheurs sont devenus de plus en plus conscients des différences individuelles qui ont un impact sur l’effet et sur l’efficacité de la rétroaction corrective. On a montré qu’une aire de différence individuelle, la personnalité, influence les résultats d’apprentissage; cependant, les résultats ne sont pas uniformes, et l’influence des traits de personnalité des apprenants sur l’efficacité de la rétroaction corrective orale a été pour la plupart négligée. Le but de la présente étude était de combler cette lacune en étudiant comment des apprenants de différente personnalité vivent et bénéficien de différents types de rétroactions correctives orales. Située dans une classe intacte d’apprenants adultes de langues dans un contexte universitaire, la collecte de données comprenait un test de personnalité se basant sur le modèle en cinq facteurs (MCF), des enregistrements audio et vidéo des activités de classe, ainsi que des séances d’entrevues individuelles/de rappels stimulés. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que les traits de personnalité semblent bien jouer un rôle dans la façon dont les étudiants perçoivent la rétroaction corrective. Les relations entre les traits de personnalité généraux MCF et la réaction à la rétroaction corrective ont montré que : les caractéristiques de compétitivité et de perfectionnisme semblaient jouer un rôle marquant et on discute d’une interaction possible entre l’agréabilité et le neuroticisme. On suggère des implications pédagogiques.

Students’ Needs or Teachers’ Wishes? A Triangulated Survey of Medical EAP in Iranian Context

Mixed in method, the present study investigated whether there was any significant difference between students’and teachers’perceptions of Iranian medical English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ language needs. In so doing, 220 EAP students of medicine, 30 subject-matter teachers of EAP, and 20 teachers of English for General Purposes (EGP) teaching medical EAP completed a Likert-scale questionnaire. Fifty of the students and 20 of the teachers also attended a semi-structured interview. The results of both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics indicated that, overall, there was a significant mismatch between the students’and the teachers’perceptions of medical EAP students’ needs. However, both teachers and students perceived reading comprehension as the most important language skill. Moreover, the students, in general, were found not to be satisfied with the EAP program presented to them. The results might prove fruitful for curriculum designers, materials developers, and teachers in (medical) EAP contexts to hear students’voices and to incorporate them in their programs, syllabi, and teaching.

Flipping the Classroom to Enhance Academic Vocabulary Learning in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Course

The present study explores the efficiency of the flipped classroom approach on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ academic vocabulary acquisition in comparison with the conventional teaching approach. The efficiency is examined by evaluating students’ post-test performance, self-perceived mental effort employed in completing post-test tasks, and perceptions regarding the learning experiences. To this end, 60 undergraduates divided into flipped (E) and conventional (C) group participated in the survey. Quantitative data analysis revealed that the flipped classroom approach showed higher instructional efficiency than the conventional approach as the E group significantly outperformed the C group and reported investing considerably lower mental effort in completing the post-test tasks. In addition, the E group expressed significantly more positive perceptions toward the learning experience than the C group. Considering the positive results obtained in the study, the article points out the use of the flipped approach as an example of good practice for enhancing academic vocabulary acquisition in EAP context.

Learner Autonomy in the Vietnamese EAP Context

: This literature review explores the current body of research pertaining to learner autonomy in the Vietnamese English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context, investigating themes and research methodologies, conclusions drawn, limitations and possible avenues for further study and new research directions in the future. We demonstrate that although there are many studies exploring the concept of learner autonomy, the definitions as to how this term is described is not clear throughout the literature, and this is a limitation in the current research field. In addition to this, there is significant evidence suggesting that Vietnamese EAP learners are keen to engage in autonomous learning practices and can demonstrate the self-regulation required to do so, which disagrees with traditional conceptions of Confucian heritage culture learning approaches.

Effect of strategy instruction on EFL students’ video-mediated integrated writing performance

Integrated writing and strategy instruction (SI) in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context have increasingly drawn much research interest in recent years for their strong pedagogical and assessment value. The role of video in integrated writing has also been widely acknowledged for pedagogical and theoretical reasons. However, research on the use of video in integrated writing tasks especially in the EAP context still remains scarce. To address this gap, this paper examines the effect of SI on students’ integrated writing as indicated in their overall writing performance scores and in each of the scoring rubric scales and the differences in their performance per Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level. We conduct explicit SI intervention for one semester in an EAP course. The success of the intervention is highlighted in the experimental group students’ substantial improvement in their overall writing scores and particularly in the citation and verbatim scales especially at intermediate and advanced level. Our findings suggest the positive impact explicit SI has on integrated writing performance. They also highlight the value and feasibility of using video in instruction and assessment of integrated writing in EAP contexts.

Positioning an academic literacies framework in an EAP context: case study of a university Pre-sessional course

Historically, there has been a strong element of crossover between English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and academic literacies approaches, as originally conceptualised by Lea and Street (1998). However, a recurring cause of concern for the latter has been its perceived lack of focus on pedagogy, with greater emphasis on construction of text (Lea, 2004). Lillis (2003) highlights another concern being the lack of ‘a design frame’ (Kress, 2000) which can harness synergy between theory and practice. As such, the strength of academic literacy from a theoretical perspective can simultaneously be an Achilles heel in its practical pedagogic application. Consequently, examples of sustained academic literacies approaches in practice are rare. This paper thus argues for EAP acting as a fulcrum between theory and practice and provides one instance of enacting academic literacies approaches in the practical context of a Pre-sessional course in a post-92 university. Therein academic literacies approaches have shaped the design and delivery of an EAP curriculum. Through presenting a case study of this story, I hope to provide one ‘exemplar’ (Shulman, 1986) of integrating pedagogic practice and theory to serve as a model for the future. In doing so, academic literacies can better meet both the practical and theoretical demands of 21st century teaching, learning and educational development.

The role of task repetition and learner self-assessment in technology-mediated task performance

Abstract This study examines the impact of task repetition on second language learners’ task performance and the mediating role of teacher feedback and learner self-assessment on oral performance. The study was conducted in a university-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program, where, as part of a course, intermediate proficiency learners (n = 52) were tasked with preparing and delivering a technology-mediated oral presentation (i.e., task) on a topic of their choice. First, they presented the task to the whole-class, reflected on their performance in terms of language and format quality, and received teacher’s feedback. Four weeks later, they produced a second recording and reflected on it again. A comparison group (n = 26) also delivered a presentation before a class but did it once, without reflection or teacher feedback. Both groups used technology to prepare, deliver, and document their presentations. The recordings were rated on six rubric-determined traits by the teacher and an independent rater, and the scores were compared between groups. To determine the effects of self-assessment, coupled with teacher feedback, on task repetition, learners’ written reflections and teacher’s comments were analyzed using discourse coding techniques. The results revealed benefits for task repetition and self-assessment during the performance of the same task for the experimental group, confirming the importance of task repetition in EAP contexts and the need for continuous and teacher-supported learner self-assessment in learner task performance and outcome.

Can Exams Change How and What Learners Learn? Investigating the Washback Effect of a University English Language Proficiency Test in the Turkish Context

This article reports on a mixed-method study that examined the washback of a local integrated theme-based high-stakes English language proficiency test that is used in a university English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program in Turkey. The assumption behind employing an integrated theme-based test, which resembles authentic language use, was that it would bring about a positive washback on learning (Leki, Cumming & Silva, 2008: Leki & Carson 1997). The data were collected from both focus-group interviews after the instruction and pre- and post- proficiency test scores of 147 EFL students in the Preparatory English Language Program (PEP). Test of Readiness for Academic English (TRACE) was administered at the beginning and at the end of a 4-month English language instruction period. Repeated measure ANOVA and inductive analysis of the transcribed interview data were used for analyzing quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The findings indicated that the test had both positive and negative washback on the learning. Most students considered that using source-based information and their notes taken during the listening task into their writing raised their awareness in terms of generating, organizing and linking ideas as well as modelling vocabulary and sentence structures. However, the test also exerted negative washback upon learning since students were inclined to prioritize test-oriented practice. The implications of the study suggest that a theme-based integrated proficiency exam may elicit positive washback on learning that could be used for validity evidence in EAP contexts and lead to more appropriate language assessment. The procedures are detailed, the findings are presented and discussed, the applications and implications for teachers and test designers are explained, and some suggestions are made for further research.

Examining the role of inter-group peer online feedback on wiki writing in an EAP context

This study investigated how one type of learner-generated information and content, i.e. inter-group peer online feedback, provided on a wiki writing assignment for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, could contribute to student L2 writing. Using a mixed method approach, more than 1000 entries of online peer comments were collected, coded, analysed and compared with more than 400 comments provided by the course teacher, as shown in the marked final writing. Correlation and chi-square tests were employed to measure the relationship between the tabulated frequency of comments and essay scores. In addition, an online survey was carried out to collect student perspectives. The results show that (1) peers try to be friendly, supportive and avoid face threatening when providing online feedback in an open learning environment; (2) peer critical comments can predict well the final score received from the course teacher; (3) peer feedback focuses more on content/meaning rather than form (language) issues in EAP settings; (4) peer feedback contributes to EAP writing in various ways, both tangibly and affectively. It is suggested that more caution and thinking should be involved in designing the wiki learning environment judiciously by considering a number of factors that can prompt peers to provide appropriate and useful inter-group comments to help other groups improve their writing and L2 learning.

USING DO-IT-YOURSELF CORPORA IN EAP: A TAILOR-MADE RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Do-it-yourself (DIY) corpora can be defined as small-scale databases of electronic texts built by users for specific, limited and local purposes. Such corpora can be of great benefit to both teachers and students of English for academic purposes (EAP), who, with recent software advances, can now construct DIY corpora to their own specifications relatively easily. For teachers, who may be tasked with giving courses related to disciplinary areas in which they have little or no expertise, the specialist DIY corpus provides an opportunity to examine a body of texts that they have selected as relevant to the target course and thus enables them to familiarize themselves with the discourse of the discipline in question. Such corpus-based investigations not only facilitate teachers’ understanding of disciplinary norms and practices, but also provide examples for use in class or in course materials and give frequency information on lexis and phraseology so that instructional decisions can be made on a sound evidential basis. For graduate students, who have needs that are highly specific, it is also valuable to construct DIY corpora from material within their own field. This tailor-made resource provides individual, precisely-targeted information, which can be drawn upon to answer lexicogrammatical queries both at the composing and editing stages of the writing process. This paper makes the case for the use of DIY corpora in EAP contexts, illustrating the argument with examples of a teacher’s use of a corpus of theses to create a course for doctoral students in materials science and students’ uses of DIY corpora for writing support.

Peer collaborative writing in the EAP classroom: Insights from a Canadian postsecondary context

AbstractPeer collaborative second language (L2) writing has recently gained a lot of traction (Hu & Lam, 2009; Swain & Lapkin, 2013) as both instructors and students recognize its advantages. Although research on peer feedback in L2 contexts has a long history, peer collaborative L2 writing research has been sparse. This article reports on a study that investigated student perceptions on collaboration in an extended, take‐home writing assignment in an English for academic purposes context at a Canadian university. Data were collected from questionnaire surveys, student writing, and semistructured interviews. Findings suggest that although there are some challenges in peer collaborative writing, it also has certain benefits. The main challenges identified were participants’ unfamiliarity with peer collaboration, lack of clear instructions regarding the steps to be followed, unequal proficiency levels within groups, and group members’ different backgrounds, causing difficulty in communication among partners. The benefits include students’ critical awareness about the use of language in academic writing, which led to an improved understanding of the meaning‐making processes in text production. Drawing on these findings, the authors discuss implications for teaching and learning.

DDL INTEGRATION IN DIFFERENT EAP SCENARIOS OF ACADEMIC WRITING

In EAP (English for Academic Purposes) contexts, a holistic view is desirable for research and pedagogy. This mixed-methods approach usually includes quantitative data from language learning situations. For example, pre-tests, post-tests, and delayed post-tests may be exploited for concrete linguistic aspects so that the learners’ performance evolvement with them is measured and contrasted. Other instruments of qualitative observation such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and classroom discussion also tend to refine the depiction of the learning profiles and outcomes. In this paper, the goal is to compare different EAP contexts over an 8-year period so that some corpus-related pedagogy issues in EAP may be explored. In particular, the study sets out to compare three different academic scenarios where DDL (Data-Driven Learning) techniques were developed with and for students during the academic writing sessions of the courses. The students were university faculty members (N=20, most with a B1 level), 15 other (graduate) students (mostly B2), and 15 other faculty and graduate students (B2). The DDL method was explored with all three groups, and salient linguistic-discursive features were compared (use of first-person pronouns / awareness of authorship, and importance of active / passive voice in the texts). Furthermore, by using some questionnaires and interviews with the students, additional feedback via their reflections on academic written English was collected. Overall, most students responded positively to the recognition of the learning opportunities offered with DDL for written academic language improvement across and within their fields, although some variations exist within and across groups in terms of learning opportunities and outcomes.