English For Academic Purposes Programs Research Articles

The contested role of translanguaging in English for academic purposes courses: the practices of Chinese international students

ABSTRACT In Australia, international students who do not meet university set English language requirements can alternatively attend intensive courses in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Such courses are steeped in the traditions of communicative language teaching, often holding ‘English only’ classroom policies. This article draws on data from a larger research project to examine Chinese international students’ practices of learning English vocabulary in an EAP programme. Through the lens of the theory of practice architectures, the study reveals Chinese international students often engaged in translanguaging practices. These practices were enabled by the practice arrangements of their English language classroom, while concurrently resisted by teachers. Here, I argue for EAP teachers, curriculum writers and teachers to harness the translanguaging practices of their students to facilitate more effective learning.

From task-based needs analysis to curriculum evaluation: Putting methodological innovations to the test in an English for academic purposes program

An important initiative in research on second language needs analysis (NA) is the proliferation of recently-proposed methodological standards for ensuring the reliability and validity of NA findings (e.g., Serafini et al., 2015). This paper illustrates how Serafini et al.'s (2015) methodological framework was used to: (a) collect and analyze information on the task-based, academic oral communication needs of EAP students; and (b) evaluate the extent to which the existing EAP curriculum catered to these needs. The data collection featured qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g., document analysis, interviews, observations, questionnaires), a multi-phase design (e.g., open- to close-ended data collection), and multiple sources of information. The analysis focused on triangulating sources and methods in order to gain a more complete understanding of the oral tasks most important for student success. Three task types were identified in this regard: academic lectures, discussions, and presentations. A systematic comparison of the findings with the curriculum's learning outcomes and practices revealed that students' needs were largely being addressed. However, the evaluation also led to reliable conclusions about specific opportunities for curricular improvement for each task type. The results are discussed with an eye towards promoting the use of principled and rational NA in EAP.

Instruction of English for Academic Purposes for Freshman Non-English Majors: Perspective and Practice

An increasing number of universities in China have offered EAP (English for Academic Purposes) to university students. However, issues as to what and how to teach academic English to freshman non-English majors remain unaddressed. This paper, adopted secondary research method, is intended to explore the deficiency Chinese college students may have in participating in communication in the academic community. The result shows that inability to think critically, lack of genre awareness, deficiency in understanding features of academic discourse and the linguistic features of English scientific and technical papers, improper literature citation and inaccurate expression of stance are a major threat to academic progress and success. The paper suggests that six aspects of academic awareness should be raised, and academic skills related be developed when EAP program is offered to freshman non-English majors, in hope of providing insights for the effective implementation of academic English teaching in China.

English for Academic Purposes Programs: Key Trends Across Canadian Universities

Because of the large number of post-secondary English for academic purposes (EAP) programs and the varying ways they are structured, it can be difficult to identify how a particular program fits within the overall landscape of university education. To identify general trends across Canada, the webpages for 74 EAP programs at 50 public English-medium universities were examined for key information related to each program. Data analysis included descriptive statistics as well as graphical representation. The results pointed to typical EAP programs that are independent units that offer non-credit courses with some credit options, have international tuition fees around $9,000 per semester, provide approximately 22 hours of instruction per week, and generally require IELTS scores over 5.0 or TOEFL iBT scores over 59 for entry. These results provide an avenue of comparison and indicate the need for future research to better understand how EAP programming is conceptualized in the Canadian context.

Vision enhancement and language learning: A critical analysis of vision-building in an English for Academic Purposes programme

Future second language (L2) self-images have proven integral to L2 motivation, prompting several attempts to purposefully develop learners’ ideal L2 selves over the past decade through the use of vision-building techniques. Some of these ‘vision interventions’ have reported successfully enhancing learners’ L2 self-images and motivation; other studies, however, diverge from an unqualified success narrative, citing for example a lack of increase in learner effort despite stronger future vision. Data collection has also been typically restricted to the period of the intervention itself, and so insight into the long-term take-up of the introduced techniques, or how potential outcomes develop over time, remains limited. To gain further understanding into such issues, we have charted the evolving nature of the L2 vision intervention over the past decade, and complemented the learning from previous studies by conducting a five-week vision-building course with 25 learners of English for academic purposes (EAP) in the UK university-pathway system. Interview data gathered over the course of 10 months – the longest investigation of vision-building we are aware of – demonstrated fluctuating engagement with visualization, and accordingly, our analysis looks critically at the notion of self-image-centred intervention in instructed second language acquisition (SLA). While we believe that L2 vision can indeed be consciously enhanced, we argue that success depends largely on how general principles are adapted to specific learning contexts. The discussion highlights challenges that instructors may encounter in staging such interventions, and offers practical lessons for using self-images in the classroom.

“IELTS-out/TOEFL-out”: Is the End of General English for Academic Purposes Near? Tertiary Student Achievement Across Standardized Tests and General EAP

It has been widely asserted that general English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in postsecondary education has a limited future, given both the benefits of discipline-specific EAP, and the widespread use by universities of international standardized assessments for proof of English language proficiency (such as IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, etc.). The extra time and expense required for completion of EAP courses is a less appealing admission route than it is to “IELTS-out” (bypassing an EAP program by obtaining a standardized test score that enabling direct admission into a university program). This article investigates capacity of nine widely-used measures of English language proficiency to predict post-secondary student achievement (n = 1918) across multiple academic programs at a Canadian university, over a seven-year admission period. All standardized tests measuring English language proficiency for admission readiness (including IELTS and TOEFL) were insignificant and/or problematically weak predictors of achievement, in both first and final semester of study. In contrast, completion of pre-enrolment EAP programming proved to be a significant predictor of academic achievement, with significant, moderate association. With general EAP the only measure of language proficiency a significant predictor of student achievement, the study’s findings question whether predictions about the demise of such programs are premature.

Social and Academic Impacts of COVID-19 - Related Emergency Remote Teaching on Japanese University Students

This study will detail how a university in Western Japan has implemented its English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program during the onset of COVID-19. In the spring semester of 2020, after a 2 week delay, all courses within the school’s EAP program were offered in an online asynchronous format. The course coordinators were tasked with consolidating the materials originally designed for face-to-face,14 week courses, for a 12 week asynchronous online semester, and with uploading the modified course materials to the university’s Learning Management System (LMS). Twenty one students participated in semi-open interviews to determine the social and academic impacts of this COVID-19 Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) approach. The lessons learned from this experience will be discussed in terms of future curriculum design and implementation in a post-COVIDworld. There are a wide variety of lessons that were salient. The role of the classroom as a social institution was very prominent; however, awareness of cognitive burdens and strategies to mitigate them may be more valuable for teachers. The lessons learned during this period of ERT can help teachers moving forward.

Learning from Short-Term Study Abroad to Innovate Intensive English Programs on U.S. Campuses

A major focus of Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in most universities in the United States (U.S.) is English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which prepares English language learners for undergraduate and graduate study, delivered or facilitated in English across scholarly and professional settings. The same EAP approach may also be successfully implemented for short-term, inbound study abroad programs for international students and professionals hosted in the U.S. This qualitative review of current best practices aims to (1) to explore and document measurable trends on the efficacy of outbound study abroad programs from U.S. universities that may, ultimately, help develop short-term, inbound EAP programs, (2) provide a framework that could help IEP directors and coordinators in running short-term EAP courses, and (3) discuss innovations and future directions in hosting short-term EAP programs in an IEP setting in the U.S. Data sources include an extensive review of literature in the field (especially focusing on faculty-led study abroad courses overseas), ethnographic interviews of various stakeholders, and assessment/evaluation results from EAP materials developed specifically for international students in short-term IEP programs.

Changes in Revision Behaviours of L2 Writers in an Intensive English for Academic Purposes Program

<p style="text-align:justify">Revision constitutes an important component of the writing process that integrates text interpretation, reflection, and production. Although previous studies have offered useful insights into the revision behaviour of L2 writers at different levels of proficiency using off-line measures, little is known about the online processes of revision. In this study, I used keystroke logging to investigate longitudinal changes in the revision processes of postgraduate and undergraduate students in the context of an intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. Twenty-five postgraduate and 14 undergraduate students participated in this study. The keystroke logging program Inputlog was used during two essay writing sessions at the beginning and at the end of the course to observe how the participants revise their essays and to get insights into their on-line writing processes. Keystroke logging data were coded in terms of the orientation and location of revisions. The results revealed that postgraduates produced more content-oriented revisions at the end of the programme than at the beginning. The opposite trend was observed for the undergraduates, who revised their essays significantly less frequently at the end than at the beginning of the EAP program and made more mechanical revisions than postgraduate writers. The findings highlight fundamental differences in the developmental trajectories of revision processes between postgraduate and undergraduate students. These differences caused by previous academic writing experience and language proficiency should be considered in developing materials for EAP programs. In the paper, I also discuss benefits of using keystroke logging to investigate L2 writers’ revision processes.</p>

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.

“All These Nouns Together Just Don’t Make Sense!”: An Investigation of EAP Students’ Challenges with Complex Noun Phrases in First-Year College-Level Textbooks

Complex noun phrases (CNP) are a major vehicle of academic written discourse (Halliday, 1988; 2004). However, in spite of the view that they pose significant challenges to English language learners, they are often overlooked in preparatory English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs. This mixed methods study aims to investigate to what extent CNP present syntactic parsing challenges for upper-level college EAP students, and whether there is a perceived need for direct instruction in CNP in EAP programs. A special CNP proficiency test was administered to 70 upper-level Ontario college EAP students and a native speaker comparator group, and the results were compared with those obtained from interviews with seven of the test-takers. The results obtained from the statistical analyses and the interviews indicate that CNP are challenging to parse for upper-level EAP students and that direct instruction in CNP may be beneficial for improving their reading comprehension. Some teaching implications of the findings are also addressed.

Language Needs Analysis: An EAP Curriculum Design to Develop Foreign Students’ English Skills

This study determines the need to strengthen the English Orientation Program (EOP) for foreign language learners especially due to the changes in the Philippine educational system from K-10 to K-12 curriculum that demands higher competency in the use of English in the various academic fields of study. Specifically, this study proposes to redesign the EOP into English for Academic Purposes Program with some modifications and enhancements based on the needs of the students. Thus, this study attempts to determine the language needs of foreign students. First, it determines the needs of foreign students in the four macro skills. Second, it identifies the difficulties experienced by foreign students as perceived by both their content and language teachers. Hence, identifying these needs and difficulties would be helpful in creating syllabi for English programs. Results showed that students identified the problem in vocabulary, taking down notes when listening to lectures, understanding the text when reading texts, and finding the appropriate words when reporting and when writing; this finding on writing is affirmed by language teachers. For the content teachers, they find these skills problematic for their students: pronunciation in speaking, and listening to instructions resulting in not being able to perform tasks well.

Translanguaging pedagogy in teaching English for Academic Purposes: Researcher-teacher collaboration as a professional development model

Research has shown both the potential advantages of translanguaging pedagogy in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) contexts and some challenges facing teachers. However, there is still paucity of research on how to provide professional support for teachers to develop translanguaging pedagogy. This article focuses on a design-based research (DBR) study in which a teacher collaborated with a researcher in an EAP course at a university in China to co-develop teacher capacity in using translanguaging pedagogy. Findings from classroom observations, researcher-teacher lesson co-planning meetings, post-lesson sharing sessions and interviews have shown changes in the teacher’s beliefs and practices of using translanguaging pedagogy and several challenges she encountered, particularly the conflicts between the monolingual ideology in traditional TESOL discourses and the recent translanguaging pedagogical principles. This article suggests that researcher-teacher collaboration can be an effective strategy in helping in-service EAP teachers to reflect on and change their beliefs and practices while the process could be discursive. It calls for further explorations with teachers on principles that value multilingual speakers’ full linguistic and semiotic repertoires in teaching and learning EAP and investigations of how these principles can be realized for emerging EAP programs in universities in China and other similar contexts.

Not More Technology but More Effective Technology: Examining the State of Technology Integration in EAP Programmes

Technology use in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes is seen as a strategy to support pedagogical innovation and intensifying growth in post-secondary international student enrolments. This article discusses government-funded research documenting the largely undefined use of technologies in post-secondary North American EAP programmes. This study surveyed EAP teachers and administrators in over 40 universities and colleges across North America using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Site visits involving classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, student focus groups and student surveys were then conducted to deepen understanding of the affordances of technology-mediated EAP approaches from stakeholder perspectives in situated post-secondary contexts. Findings reveal widespread enthusiasm about emerging technologies to engage learners, develop autonomous learning, instructional pathways and transferable 21st century skills. However, despite this enthusiasm, many participating teachers, administrators and students also expressed critical views towards technology integration. Instructors noted time, lack of pedagogical guidance and vision, inadequate support, and training impacting their actual use and visions of technology use. Participants also revealed a ‘visioning’ dilemma where they had difficulty identifying the potential of emerging technologies that they had no concrete experience with. Findings suggest the need for sound theoretically informed techno-pedagogy in order to support technology integration in EAP. Implications for teacher education, further research and EAP teaching and curriculum design in today’s digital era conclude the article.

Plurilingualism in Higher Education: A Collaborative Initiative for the Implementation of Plurilingual Pedagogy in an English for Academic Purposes Program at a Canadian University

Previous literature on higher education suggests the inclusion of pedagogy that is linguistically and culturally inclusive in settings with increasing multilingualism, which is the case in Canada. Yet, little is known as to how the implementation of such pedagogy can take place, particularly in language programs. This article reports a researcher-instructor collaboration that aimed at implementing plurilingual practices, such as translanguaging, plurilingual identity, comparons nos langues, and intercomprehension over 4 months in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program at a university in Toronto, Canada. Seven EAP instructors collaborated with a researcher to implement weekly plurilingual tasks: They conducted an environment analysis, examined the logistics of implementation, and collaboratively examined the tasks. The article presents the process of implementation of the plurilingual tasks and proposes a framework for collaboration with four key elements: administrative support, openness to the use of languages other than English in class, weekly collaborative checks with the researcher, and the learner-centered nature of the tasks. Implications for the implementation of plurilingualism in English language programs in higher education are discussed. 
 La littérature existante sur l’enseignement supérieur suggère l’inclusion d’une pédagogie linguistiquement et culturellement inclusive là où le multilinguisme est en hausse, ce qui est le cas au Canada. On sait toutefois peu de choses sur la façon dont la mise en œuvre d’une telle pédagogie pourrait s’effectuer, particulièrement dans les programmes de langue. Le présent article rend compte d’une collaboration entre une chercheuse et plusieurs professeurs qui portait sur la mise en œuvre de pratiques plurilingues comme le translangagisme, l’identité plurilingue, Comparons nos langues, et l’intercompréhension sur une période de 4 mois dans le cadre d’un cours d’anglais académique (EAP) offert dans une université de Toronto, au Canada. Sept professeurs d’anglais académique ont collaboré avec une chercheuse à la mise en œuvre de tâches plurilingues hebdomadaires, et ce, en réalisant une analyse de l’environnement, en examinant la logistique de la mise en œuvre et en collaborant à l’examen des tâches. L’article présente le processus de mise en œuvre des tâches plurilingues et propose un cadre de collaboration comportant quatre éléments clés : soutien administratif, ouverture à l’utilisation de langues autres que l’anglais en classe, contrôles collaboratifs hebdomadaires avec la chercheuse et choix de tâches centrées sur l’apprenante ou l’apprenant. Les implications de la mise en œuvre du plurilinguisme à l’intérieur des programmes de langue anglaise dans l’enseignement supérieur font l’objet d’une discussion.

The Success of an EAP Programme in Tertiary Education: Using a Student-Centric Approach to Scaffold Materials in an EAP

Researchers and practitioners who focus on academic writing in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses have reported on the need to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with academic writing across different disciplines in tertiary education (Rinnert & Kobayashi, 2005; Shi, 2011; Thompson, 2013). Previous research (e.g., Crosthwaite, 2016) has predominantly measured students’ progress in an EAP by comparing students’ pre- and post-course scores of individual language/writing skills. Much less has been reported on the effectiveness of a detailed EAP curriculum design that scaffolds skills in stages. This study contributes to the current EAP research by examining holistically the impact of a 12-week EAP course that adopts a reading-to-write, student-centric approach to scaffold progressively difficult writing skills/knowledge to help students acquire academic writing skills by focusing on three core skills: language, text organisation, and content development. The data of this study show students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and the significant improvement in academic writing skills before and after completing the course.

L2 writers’ use of outside sources and the related challenges

Researchers have called for the development of new pedagogical strategies to help students learn how to integrate source information into their own texts effectively (Casanave, 2017; Hu, 2015). Since these strategies are tied to particular pedagogical contexts, their development has to be preceded by a careful examination of the context where they will be implemented. To that end, the current study examined how students use sources in their own writing at an English-medium university in Canada and what challenges they face in doing so. Notes and essays written by English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students (N = 73) were analyzed in terms of how they used source text information. A subset of the students and five experienced instructors were interviewed to gain insight into students’ challenges with the source-based writing tasks required in the EAP program. The findings indicate that students face difficulty with both the reading and writing phases of source-based writing, which has implications for the development of pedagogical strategies to address these difficulties.

“The moment I realized I am plurilingual”: Plurilingual tasks for creative representations in EAP at a Canadian university

AbstractIn many urban settings across the globe, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes are inherently multilingual and provide unique possibilities to explore a wealth of languages and cultures as well as the interactions among them. Although the field of applied linguistics has historically followed monolingual ideologies, a plurilingual approach in EAP can provide insights into language practices that are situated, creative and contextualized. Raising students’ awareness of their own plurilingual and pluricultural repertoire is key to preparing them to make mindful decisions about culture and language use in real-life situations; plurilingual instruction incudestranslanguaging, validating plurilingual identities, as well as understandingpluriculturalism, all of which can open up possibilities for creativity in culture and language use. While research shows plurilingual-inspired pedagogies can benefit language learning, little is known about the extent to which they can enhance creative representations of language and culture. This article reports results from a study on the effects of plurilingual instruction on creativity in an EAP program. Seven EAP instructors delivered plurilingual tasks to adult students at a Canadian university. Data from demographic questionnaires,Language Portraits, student diaries (N=28), and classroom observations (N=21) were qualitatively analyzed and triangulated. Results suggest that the use of plurilingual tasks afforded a heightened awareness of plurilingual/pluricultural identity and validated the creative use of linguistic and cultural resources, including translanguaging. Suggestions for the inclusion of creative data collection instruments and plurilingual instruction in applied linguistics classroom research are made.

A study on English-medium instruction programs in Korean universities: Based on the importance of English for academic purposes program

A study on English-medium instruction programs in Korean universities: Based on the importance of English for academic purposes program

Direct Phonemic Awareness Instruction as a Means of Improving Academic Text Comprehension for Adult Language Learners

At an international branch campus of a Canadian university located in Qatar, difficulty comprehending academic English text has been an institutionally acknowledged barrier to student success. A team of teacher-researchers in the English for Academic Purposes program conducted a quasi-experimental investigation into the efficacy of phonemic awareness instruction as a means of addressing this competency gap. This project was conducted in an attempt to achieve better alignment between teaching strategies, classroom activities, and student learning outcomes. Sixty-seven students, enrolled in three program level s, were given one hour per week of standardised direct phonemic awareness instruction over a 10-week period. Two tests were used to measure pre-/post-instruction differences: a missing vowel identification test and a C-test. Learners in the treatment group improved significantly more in both measures than those in the control group. The results suggest that direct phonemic awareness instruction can promote the development of both vowel recognition and ability to comprehend academic English text among tertiary-level EAP learners in a predominantly native Arabic language environment.