Research in English for Academic Purposes.docx
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ResearchinEnglishforAcademicPurposes
ResearchinEnglishforAcademicPurposes
Abstract:
EAPisthemainbranchofESPandEAPisdefinedas“anyEnglishteachingthatrelatestoastudypurpose”.FourtypesofEAPsituationshouldbeconsideredwhenwepracticeEAPteachingintertiarylevelcontext:
EAPinanEnglish-speakingcountry,EAPinESL(Englishasasecondlanguage)situations,EAPsituationsinwhichcertainsubjectsaretaughtinEnglishandEAPsituationswheresubjectcoursesaretaughtinthenationallanguage.Today’sEAPteachingpracticeemploysanumberofapproachestohighlightthelanguageanddiscourseofparticularacademicgenresratherthanthatinacademictext.
Keywords:
EnglishforAcademicPurposes(EAP);EnglishforSpecificPurposes(ESP);EnglishforOccupationalPurposes(EOP);SettingsofEAP;studyskills
WhatisEAP
EnglishforSpecificPurposes(ESP),accordingtowheytheytakeplaceordisciplineandprofessionalarea,istraditionallydividedintotwoareas:
EnglishforAcademicPurposes(EAP)andEnglishforOccupationalPurposes(EOP)(Dudley-Evans,T.,&StJohn,M.,1998).SoitisclearthatEAPisthemainbranchofESPandEAPisdefinedas“anyEnglishteachingthatrelatestoastudypurpose”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).Otherscholarsgavetheirdefinitions,too.Forexample,“EAPisconcernedwiththosecommunicativeskillsinEnglishwhicharerequiredforstudypurposesinformaleducationalsystems”(Jordan,1997,).
ThehistoryanddevelopmentofEAP
EAPteachingpracticehaswidelycarriedoutforalmost30years.EveryEnglishlanguageteacherofaroundnone-nativestudentsinacademiccontextswouldchoosetoteach“withaviewtothecontextratherthanonlytothelanguage”(Hamp-Lyons,2001,).Theterm“EnglishforAcademicPurposes”wasfirstintroducedin1974andputintogeneralusein1975(Jordan,1997).Initshistory,theBritishorganizationSELMOUS(SpecialEnglishLanguageMaterialsforOverseasUniversityStudents)contributedalot.ThepublishedpapersofitsannualmeetingwasentitledEnglishforacademicpurposes(CowieandHeaton,1977,citedinJordan,1997,p.1).Laterin1989,SELMOUSbecameBALEAP(BritishAssociationofLecturersinEnglishforAcademicPurposes)andtheprofessionalismintheteachingofEAPattertiarylevelwasthenpromoted.Besides,itisStrevens(1977,citedinHamp-Lyons,2001,)whoconsideredEAPasanareaofESP.Heemphasizedtheteachingforpracticalcommandoflanguageandthatlanguageteachingshouldmeettheneedsoflanguagelearners(Hamp-Lyons,2001).
DifferentfromgeneralEnglishcoursesbeginningwithlanguage,EAPisaneducationalapproachbeginningwiththelearnersandsituations;mostgeneralEnglishcoursesfocusonspeakingandlistening,whileEAPonreadingandwriting(Hamp-Lyons,2001).What’smore,EAPcoursestendtoteachlearnersformal,academicgenresofthelanguageratherthanconventionalandsocialgenresasgeneralEnglishcoursesdo(Hamp-Lyons,2001).
EAPcoursesareusuallyrunbyacertainbodieslikeLanguageCenters,EnglishLanguage(Teaching)CentersorUnitsinUK,ordepartmentswithsimilarnamesandfunctions.Thesituationisalsosimilarinothercountries(Jordan,1997).
SettingsofEAP
AccordingtoJordan(1997),EAPexistsindifferentsettings.Teachersthushavetodoacarefulworkbeforedesigningthecourseandselectingrelevantteachingmaterialsinordertomatchtheirteachingsituations.Dudley-EvansandStJohn(1998,)alsopointedoutthat“thekeydeterminantofwhatanEAPcourseshouldcontainiswhetherornotthesubjectcourseistaughtinEnglish”.Forthisreason,fourtypesofEAPsituationshouldbeconsideredwhenwepracticeEAPteachingintertiarylevelcontext:
EAPinanEnglish-speakingcountry,EAPinESL(Englishasasecondlanguage)situations,EAPsituationsinwhichcertainsubjectsaretaughtinEnglishandEAPsituationswheresubjectcoursesaretaughtinthenationallanguage.
InanEnglish-speakingcountrysuchasUK,USAorAustralia,alargenumbersofinternationalstudentsareenrolledeveryyearandboththeiracademicandculturalbackgroundareoftendifferentfromthatofEnglish-speakingcountries.ThemostremarkablepointmaybetheEnglishlanguagesettingstheyaregoingtoadaptthemselvesto.ThenEAPcoursesshouldbedesignedtoanalyzeandmeettheneedsofthoseinternationalstudents,“helpingsuchstudentsreachtheirfullacademicpotential”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).
Meanwhile,EAPworkisalsodoneinESLcountrieslikeZimbabwe,NigeriaandsomeSouth-EastAsiancountriessuchasSingaporeandPhilippines(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).InthoseESLcountries,Englishismainlyusedintheeducationsystemofalllevelsthoughthenativelanguagestillplaysadominantroleineverydaylife.Sincestudentsofthosecountrieshaveownedcomparativelyhigherlanguageproficiency,EAPcoursesthenareworkingtohelpstudentsacquirestudyskillsandprepareforthespecificstudyatthetertiarylevel.Butonethingtoremarkistheneedsofsuchstudents“spantheneedsofnon-nativespeakersfollowinganEnglish-mediumcourseandthoseofnativespeakersinneedofdevelopingcommunicationskills”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).ThemostsuccessfulcommunicationskillscourseinESLcountriesturnedouttobethecombinationofthetraditionalideasofEAPandthecommunicationskillsfornativespeakers(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).
AsforEAPsituationsinwhichcertainsubjectsaretaughtinEnglish.Froexample,inmanyMiddleEastcountries,thereisnoEnglish-mediumteachingtraditionasESLcountriesdo.AlmostallthesubjectsaretaughtintheirnativelanguageatschoollevelthoughinsomecountriesEAPworkhavebeenincludedatuppersecondaryschoollevel.Attertiarylevel,however,onlyacertainsubjects,likescience,medicineandengineering,aregiveninEnglish.ButitisalsotruethattheteachingandlearningarenotstrictlyEnglishrequiredduetothecomparativelylowerEnglishlevelofeitherlecturersorstudents(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).
InEAPsituationswheresubjectcoursesaretaughtinthenationallanguage,forexampleinEastAsiancountries,Latincountries,mainlandWesterncountries,EasternEuropeandsoon,nationallanguagesareadoptedasthemediuminteachingandlearning(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).TakeChinaforexample,almostallsubjectsaredeliveredinChinese,nomatterwhatlevelstudentsareat.TheonlyexceptionissomeuniversitylevelcourseslikeTechnicalEnglishandBusinessEnglish,whichareusuallyconsideredasEAPapplications.Englishisanauxiliarylanguage.
TheteachersofEAPmaybeeithernativespeakersofEnglishornon-nativespeakers.“Thecoursesmaybepre-sessional…orin-sessional…”(Jordan,1997,p.2).Tobespecific,pre-sessionalcoursesareusuallyfull-timeonesandheldbeforeanacademiccoursebegins(Jordan,1997).Incontrast,in-sessionalcourses,usuallypart-time,aredeliveredduringanacademicsemesterandstudentscantakethemwhilestudyingtheirmajorcourses(Jordan,1997).
AccordingtoJordan(1997),thelengthofcoursesisnotfixed.Itcanbe“‘short’, 4-12weeks,or‘long’, 6-12months,orlonger”(Jordan,1997,p.2).
Asfarasthemethodofdeliveryisconcerned,formalteachingprograms,self-accesssituations,distance-learningmaterialsorCALL(computer-assistedlanguagelearning)canbethechoicesforEAPinstruction(Jordan,1997).
IfwelookintoEAPwithamicroview,wecanseethatEAPhastwodivisions-EnglishforGeneralAcademicPurposes(EGAP)andEnglishforSpecificAcademicPurposes(ESAP)(Blue,1988,citedinDudley-Evans&StJohn,1998),whichcanhelpusachieveabetterunderstandingofEAP.Dudley-EvansandStJohndefinedthesetwotermsasfollowing:
“EGAPreferstotheteachingoftheskillsandlanguagethatarecommontoalldisciplines;ESAPreferstotheteachingofthefeaturesthatdistinguishonedisciplinefromothers”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).
EGAPseesstudyskillsasindividualonesboundtorespectivestudyactivities.Forexample,thereare“listeningtolectures;participatinginsupervisions,seminarsandtutorials;readingtextbook,articlesandotherreadingmaterials;andwritingessays,examinations,answers,dissertationsandreports”(Blue,1993.citedinDudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).Foreachofthesestudyactivities,somespecificskillsareinvolved.
Incontrast,ESAPconsiderstheskillsworkofEGAPasawholeandaimstohelplearnerstomakeuseofthoseskillsintheirspecificsubjecttasks(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).Veryoften,ESAPworkneeds“cooperationwiththeactualsubjectdepartment”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).
ThedifferencebetweenEGAPandESAPmaylieinthedifferentfocuses.Thatis,EGAPcoursesareofmoregeneralcontexts,whileESAPputtheemphasisonmorespecifictasks(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998).
ThecommoncoreandsubjectspecificworkofEAPareinseparableintherealEAPteachingpracticethoughsomescholarsholdtheiropinions.HutchinsonandWaters(1987,citedinDudley-Evans&StJohn,1998)andBlue(1988,citedinDudley-Evans&StJohn,1998)arguedthatEGAPshouldbefocusedoninEAPteachingandESAPcanbeacquiredbystudentsthoughindividualprojectwork.Dudley-EvansandStJohnmadeitmorecompletedandclearerbyaddingthat“thecommon-coreEAPworkmakesmoresenseandismorerelevantifitsupplementedbyspecificwork”(Dudley-Evans&StJohn,1998,).Inaddition,theysuggestthethree-levelcooperationforsubject-specificwork:
Cooperation,CollaborationandTeam-teaching.Cooperation“involvesthelanguageteachertakingtheinitiativeandfindingoutwhathappensinthes