English For Academic Purposes Course Research Articles

Effects of supplementary and mainstream education on the secondary–tertiary transitional challenges in English medium higher education

AbstractDespite the rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, little research has been conducted to pinpoint the challenges faced by students. This quantitative study explored the challenges posed by the secondary–tertiary transition to first-year students with different English proficiency levels in EMI higher education institutions. In addition, we also investigated students’ perception of the usefulness of supplementary and mainstream education in preparing them for those challenges. 91 participants studying at two tertiary institutions in Hong Kong completed a 52-item questionnaire. The questionnaire included items in relation to three major aspects of challenges: ‘academic studies and skills’, ‘socialization’, and ‘college/university life adaptation’. It was found that students with low proficiency regarded all three aspects as significantly more challenging than the high proficiency ones in their first-year studies. However, despite the different proficiency levels, students similarly perceived mainstream education to be significantly more useful than supplementary education in preparing them for those transitional challenges. The findings together suggest that more English support is needed for low-proficiency students at the tertiary level and argue that mainstream education plays an essential role in assisting students in this secondary–tertiary transition. Implications are discussed in terms of the benefits of having a general English course as perquisite for low English proficiency students before they enroll in English for Academic Purposes courses, and the development of a variety of tasks with more emphasis on communication and collaboration at the secondary level to support them in this transition.

Development of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Module for English for Academic Purposes Course

Development of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Module for English for Academic Purposes Course

From EAP to ESP

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) are language training pathways for students to meet target language proficiency requirements towards further tertiary studies (Keefe & Shi, 2017; Walková & Bradford, 2022). Yet, these can be highly debatable terms, controversial over their appropriate usage (Flowerdew, 2016; Li, 2020; Maleki, 2008; Mpofu & Maphalala, 2021; Wette, 2018). A main reason for this discord is a lack of firm definitions between these two constructs, which leads to vague and blurred boundaries. This article will describe the process where a small western Canadian university modified an existing EAP course consisting of broad reading and writing topics into an ESP one with a narrow culturally and medically themed focus towards internationally educated nurses (IENs). These modifications assisted in the identification of the similarities and differences of both EAP and ESP for the institution. The new ESP course, piloted over two terms was found to have strengthened student outcomes in their non-native target language, commonly known as L2 (Saville-Toike, 2012) while their disciplinary knowledge contributions also enriched the curriculum. Rooted within the debate between determining appropriate language pathways, recommendations to determine the suitability of an EAP versus an ESP course within a “negotiated syllabus” utilizing learner input are offered (Breen & Littlejohn, 2000; Prior, 2020).

Student reflections as a catalyst for teacher reflective practice in teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

ABSTRACT This paper examines a new first-year EAP course in a Hong Kong university. It utilizes teacher and student reflections to understand the course’s strengths and weaknesses, aiming to enhance its design and delivery. The study employed a qualitative approach whereby textual analysis was used to interpret the data collected in the form of written teacher reflections, written student reflections, and notes of teacher reflective dialogue. The thematic categories for coding the data were established based on the course’s main learning outcomes: Effective Learning, Spoken Language, and Written Language. Findings reveal that teachers were more critical of the course compared to learners. Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the pedagogical approach to Effective Learning unit, insufficient time provided in the course to teach solo speaking, and the inability to cover too many organizational and linguistic features in the writing unit. Students, however, did not have much to reflect on about Effective Learning, had mixed views about Spoken Language with some worried about reading from notes, and wrote extremely positively about their learning of Written Language. Nonetheless, their views provide valuable insights for course improvement. Consequently, the paper advocates for a reflective pedagogy approach to EAP that considers both teacher and student reflections to enhance teaching and learning outcomes.

The Effectiveness of Developing the Mobile Application for Learning English for Academic Purposes in a Thai Regional University

The objectives of this research were to develop and test the efficiency of a mobile application for promoting out-of-class English practice for Thai university students enrolling in an English for academic purposes course. This mobile application featured interactive flashcards, multiple-choice quizzes, matching quizzes, spelling quizzes, and a news-update page. The participants in this study were 79 undergraduate students divided into two groups based on their voluntary use of the application. In the experimental group, after the pre-test, sixty-three students downloaded and used the application for one month, while the control group consisted of the 16 students who did not download or use the app after the pre-test. Both the pre-test and post-test consisted of listening, vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Their pre-test and post-test scores were compared by using the pair-sample t-test in the experimental group, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used in the control group. Additional data regarding the usability and perceived effectiveness of the app were collected using an online questionnaire and analyzed using the mean and standard deviation. It was found that students who used the app performed significantly better in their post-test than in their pre-test, but that was not the case for students in the control group who did not use the app. The data from the questionnaire show that users were satisfied with the app features and frequently used the matching quizzes, usage quizzes, and meaning quizzes. They also agreed that the app was usable and effective, and they supported further development in terms of contents. This shows that the application should be implemented in order to increase achievement in learning English for specific purposes.

Exploring Chinese college students’ engagement in an online EAP course

This study examined the dynamic and complex development of college students' engagement in an online English for academic purposes (EAP) course. The study adopted a case study design, collecting data from multiple sources such as class observations and student interviews. Data analysis revealed the learners' engagement profiles and patterns throughout the duration of the course, highlighting the interactions and transactions between learners and the learning environment. In this online learning environment, the behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions of learner engagement underwent dynamic development through interactions between learners and contextual complexity. The features and developmental trajectories of learner engagement were influenced by a series of language, cultural, course, technical, and individual factors, such as full English instruction, cultural differences in educational philosophy, course mode, technical support, learners’ language proficiency, and motivation. These findings shed light on learner engagement in an online EAP learning context and have the potential to enrich our understanding of the multifaceted, situated, and dynamic nature of engagement. The study has implications for language pedagogy, curriculum design, and program innovation in a globalized world.

Learners’ Perceptions of Writing Difficulties on a Pre-sessional EAP Programme in a British University

This study examines how learners’ perceptions of their academic writing difficulties changed over the course of a four-week intensive English for Academic purposes (EAP) programme at a British university. The participants of this qualitative study were 14 Chinese undergraduate students who engaged in interviews and completed learning journal entries. The results of the thematic analyses indicate that vocabulary which constituted the biggest perceived challenge in Week 1 was no longer mentioned in Week 4 as a source of writing difficulty. Another finding is that after four weeks, students felt they had a better understanding of argumentation in a UK academic context and were not facing major difficulties with using sources and the understanding of argumentation in a UK academic context; they also reported that they were not facing major difficulties with using sources and understanding plagiarism in written assignments. Upon completion of the EAP course, students also reported that they tended to experience noticeably fewer challenges with academic reading. This qualitative study provides insights into the contribution of pre-sessional programmes in the development of learners’ writing as they transition into the academic community.

My experience of teaching pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes courses for international or non-native-English-speaking students at Scottish universities

My experience of teaching pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes courses for international or non-native-English-speaking students at Scottish universities

Addressing Language and Study Skills Challenges in Online Undergraduate EMI Courses

English-medium instruction (EMI) is taking hold within higher education in non-Anglophone settings, but there is insufficient research into the challenges students encounter when taking EMI courses online. This exploratory quantitative study conducted in Hong Kong examines the language and studying challenges faced by undergraduate students when in-person classes were suspended due to COVID-19. One hundred thirteen first- and second-year students completed a questionnaire, rating their perceived challenges in the areas of writing, speaking, reading, listening, and study skills. The results showed that they faced particular challenges with reading and study skills (especially self-motivation), as well as vocabulary range, which affected more than one skill. Corroborating existing research, students with less secondary school EMI experience reported greater challenges. As providing English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses is a primary way to support the language skills of students in EMI settings, we offer guidance to EAP practitioners who seek to help their students overcome the challenges identified in this article. As online technology continues to deliver content in tertiary education, EAP courses must be closely aligned with the language and study skills needs of students in digital EMI environments.

The reception and representation of English as an academic language among foreign students in Poland and its influence on (re)shaping individual identities

The article discusses selected problems of learning and using English as an academic language from the perspective of foreign students in Poland. The theoretical part of the paper concentrates on the issues related to the concept of identity and the status of English as an academic lingua franca, especially in the light of the growing role of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in university education. Such theoretical background is intended to serve as a kind of introduction to the discussion which centres around the influence of this specific social variation of the English language on the process of shaping or reshaping identities among students who have decided to continue their education outside their native language environment in the multilingual context of a university language department. Seen from such a perspective, university courses in EAP may be treated as a form of practical implementation of multilingual pedagogy and, more specifically, the idea of inclusive “classrooms” with a particular goal-oriented curriculum. The empirical part of the article presents the research project which aimed to examine the above-mentioned phenomena as experienced by a group of language students of different ethnic and national background who have been studying (and living) in Poland for at least a year. The main research technique used in this qualitative study was the semi-structured interview, selected with a view to obtaining an in-depth picture and highly personalised account of the process of (re)constructing individual identities in a specific social context and educational setting.

The digital turn in EAP: teachers’ perspectives on transitioning to blended or hybrid teaching post-Covid-19

This small-scale empirical study investigates English for Academic Purposes (EAP) practitioners’ perspectives on transitioning to blended or hybrid teaching after teaching online during the Covid-19 pandemic period in UK universities. The study aims to understand what this transition required of teachers, and how the adoption of the digital mode of teaching in EAP influenced their perspectives concerning the transition from fully online to hybrid or blended teaching.The study draws on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theoretical framework, which focuses on technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and content knowledge (CK), to explore the dilemmas and challenges teachers faced when transitioning between different modes of teaching as part of the digital transformation which took place during Covid-19 which forced the UK Higher (HE) institutions to make drastic changes to the delivery of EAP courses. Moreover, it helps to clarify how the technology they chose to integrate into their online courses communicated the content and supported their pedagogy so that their students could continue their learning experience without disruption.The study suggests that, although transitioning to blended or hybrid modes may bring about certain challenges for teachers, in terms of pedagogy and technology, the experiences gained through such transitions may equip teachers with a new set of skills and new knowledge of online teaching, affording them opportunities to develop new ways of teaching.As the phenomenon investigated in this study is recent, the findings produced offer new insights to develop the field.Keywords: EAP; hybrid; hyflex; Covid-19; digital transformation; online learning,Part of the Special Issue Teaching practices in times of digital transformation <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.ac86609b>

An exploratory investigation of instructors' practices and challenges in promoting students' learning transfer in EAP education

To be successful, English for academic purposes (EAP) education must lead to students' transfer of learning to new situations beyond the EAP classroom. Research on learning transfer in EAP education contexts has tended to focus on students, leaving another perspective underexplored: EAP instructors'. While existing scholarly work points to concrete steps that could be taken in EAP education to promote learning transfer, little information is available about whether instructors are taking such steps or the kinds of challenges instructors may be experiencing. To help fill this gap, this article describes a qualitative investigation of EAP instructors' perspectives on promoting students' learning transfer. Participants were 26 instructors of EAP courses at a university and community colleges in a US metropolitan area. Semi-structured interviews revealed a variety of ways these instructors self-reportedly were promoting learning transfer, and a variety of challenges they self-reportedly were experiencing. These findings point to practical ways in which EAP instructors can be supported in their efforts to promote students' learning transfer.

LEARNING BY DOING: THE BENEFITS OF ADOPTING AN ONLINE NEGOTIATION SUPPORT SYSTEM INTO AN ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES COURSE

The paper reports on the benefits of imbedding an online negotiation support system (NSS) into the experiential learning framework of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course. Proponents of experiential learning projects in the second/foreign language classroom emphasize the benefits of learning by doing. To test the claim, the performances of students in two advanced level EAP courses at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, were compared. One course was developed with the principles of content-based (CBI) instruction, with input primarily from academic texts; the other course also used content-based instruction but was enhanced by an experiential learning project for which the online negotiation system was adopted. Participation in the project provided a novel learning experience for second language learners at Carleton, with counterparts from universities in three additional countries (Austria, Poland, and Taiwan) also participating. A statistical analysis of student grades showed that the students in the EAP course enhanced by the experiential learning project obtained significantly higher grades on the final assignment in comparison to the students in the “traditional” CBI course.The paper also demonstrates that this teaching and training system enhances learning by promoting learner autonomy, critical thinking, and academic language development. Relevant aspects of the experiential learning project led to enhanced learning outcomes, supporting the claim that learning by doing benefits language acquisition. The paper proposes a new experiential learning model, applicable to ESP/EAP instruction, i.e., the sustained-content experiential learning model which can be applied to any project that emphasizes learning through direct experience. The model depicts the importance of sequencing academic content tasks that build on each other allowing learners to accumulate knowledge and language and prepare them to engage in a meaningful, authentic communication. It also illustrates the importance of using reflection as an effective learning tool that helps develop critical thinking and analysis, skills necessary for academic success.

A corpus-based comparison study of first-person pronoun we in English-language abstracts

This paper offers a corpus-based study of how the first-person plural pronoun we is used in English-language RA abstracts published in Chinese-language journals in comparison to corresponding RA abstracts published in English-language journals in the fields of Finance and Accounting. Using a range of corpus-based methods of investigation, this study finds that abstracts written by the two groups of writers display characteristic differences in the usage of this first-person pronoun, such as its phraseological patterns. In general, the study demonstrates that the uses of we in RA abstracts written by Chinese Finance and Accounting academic writers diverge in a substantial number of important ways from those written by their international peers. The study also discusses some reasons for such differences. This paper identifies a number of points of difference that could be devoted to the teaching of RA abstract writing skills in English for Academic Purposes course.

Podcasts as a resource for learning academic English: A lexical perspective

As the demand for English for academic purposes (EAP) courses increases, efforts are being made to identify pedagogically useful resources for them. Academic podcasts may be helpful for EAP pedagogy, considering their ever-growing stockpile of authentic content covering a wealth of topics from various disciplines that is conveyed in diverse speech formats (e.g., narratives and discussions). Yet, the potential value of podcasts as EAP resources remains largely unexplored. This study addresses that issue by analyzing the lexical nature of the general, academic, and discipline-specific vocabulary in a 9.6-million-word corpus of academic podcasts. The results indicate that these podcasts contain a large amount of frequently used academic vocabulary, but are lexically less demanding than university lectures. As such, they may be especially suitable as learning materials for novice EAP students. The podcasts also contain many disciplinary vocabulary items that are rather infrequent in general English but are essential to discipline-specific speech. Together, these results indicate the strong potential value of academic podcasts to EAP pedagogy, as they create rich opportunities for students to encounter both core academic and discipline-specific vocabulary in use in authentic contexts. Pedagogical suggestions for the use of podcasts in EAP courses are also provided.

الحاجة إلى اللغة الإنجليزية للأغراض الأكاديمية بين الطلاب السعوديين في المرحلة الجامعية

This research explores the need for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) among Majmaah University students admitted into the Colleges of Medicine, Applied Medical Sciences, and Engineering. The purpose of this study was to persuade Majmaah University stakeholders that a needs analysis was the only objective method to inform the course design process. Data were collected from 180 participants using a questionnaire. The participants came from the Colleges of Medicine, Applied Medical Sciences, and Engineering. Data analysis revealed that there were significant differences in the students’ EAP skills. An interpretation of the results showed that these differences were attributable to the role of EAP in the academic activities in the three colleges. Based on the study findings, it was recommended that EAP courses should not be confined to the Deanship of Common First year. That is, colleges should consider adding more advanced courses to serve the students’ academic purposes at advanced levels. It was also recommended that a series of needs analyses should be conducted to update stakeholders’ perceptions of what constitutes a relevant EAP syllabus at advanced levels.

Academic language-related challenges, self-reported proficiency, and academic success at an EMI university in Brunei

ABSTRACT This article reports an empirical study that investigates academic language challenges faced by university students in an Outer Circle context with almost four decades of English-medium instruction (EMI) education . The study also examines the relationship between students’ reported language challenges and their perceived academic success in EMI courses, as well as their self-rated proficiency in English. Quantitative analyses on questionnaire data collected from 198 undergraduate students indicate that Bruneian students did not generally experience major language-related challenges in their EMI courses, although academic writing and speaking were at times problematic. Furthermore, language challenges were found to be significant predictors of students’ perceived academic success in EMI but their self-rated English proficiency was not, suggesting that students’ beliefs about their language abilities and competence were not applied to the academic context. Finally, some implications in relation to early exposure to EMI education, and enhancing the provision of language support through English for academic purposes courses, are discussed.

The Role of EAP Genre-Focused Instruction in Preparing Novice Research Students for Thesis Writing: A Case Study

Although writing master&amp;rsquo;s theses are believed to be a major challenge for many L2 research students, there has been no extensive discussion about to what extent students are prepared for such advanced academic writing through learning in English for academic purposes (EAP) classes. This study investigated a group of novice research students learning to write master&amp;rsquo;s theses in an EAP course at a Chinese university and explored their progress in developing genre knowledge. Data were drawn from interviews, participants&amp;rsquo; learning diaries, and their written texts. It was found that most learners had developed the macro-level formal genre knowledge, including the overall structure and content of thesis writing, and raised the declarative meta-cognitive genre awareness, but they had not yet grasped the tacit aspects of rhetorical knowledge, the micro-level formal knowledge, and the complicacy of process knowledge, including the abstract thinking processes, intertextuality, and the interpersonal meaning of academic texts, as well as the correspondent lexicogrammatical features. The nascent status of the students&amp;rsquo; genre knowledge developed in the EAP class, and the role of EAP genre-focused instruction in preparing novice research students for their future thesis writing, are further discussed. It is suggested that thesis-focused EAP writing courses take advantage of explicit instruction to inform students about the meta-generic specifications of thesis writing and emphasize the multiple dimensions of genre knowledge development.

Influencing language mindsets and English writing competence through an EAP program: A longitudinal study with latent transition analysis

This study examined changes in undergraduate students’ language mindsets and academic writing competence as a result of taking a one-semester English for academic purposes (EAP) writing course with a pre–post intervention on mindset. A total of 319 students participated in the study and completed a 10-week EAP course. The participants were administered the mindset questionnaire and the writing test at two different time-points. The results showed that the participants’ level in one component of growth language mindset (general language intelligence beliefs), and scores on the writing test increased significantly. The results of the latent profile analysis revealed three distinctive profiles among the participants at both time-points: Growth profile, Mixed profile, and Fixed profile. The Growth and Mixed profiles were found to perform significantly better than the Fixed profile on the writing tests. Finally, the result of a latent transition analysis revealed that dynamic shifts in the profile membership could occur through the mindset intervention.

How General English Proficiency Contributes to Learners’ Performance in the English for Academic Purposes Course

How General English Proficiency Contributes to Learners’ Performance in the English for Academic Purposes Course