Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes

1. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Blanka Frydrychova Klimova University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Informaticsand Management blanka.klimova@uhk.cz EDULEARN 2014

2. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Outline • Introduction– EAP and itsperception • Threeenvironmentsof EAP • Criticismof EAP • Conclusion EDULEARN 2014

3. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Introduction The term English for Academic Purposes itself was first coined by Tim Johns in 1974 and by 1975 it was already in general use.In the 1980’s EAP was established as one of thebranches of ESP EAP is usually defined as the language and associated skills that students need to undertake study in higher education through the medium of English or to conduct research in that language (Hyland, 2006; Robinson 1991). EDULEARN 2014

4. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes According to Robinson (1991), EAP is distinguished by the following characteristics: • EAP is goal directed: students learn English because they need it; • EAP courses are based on needs analyses, which specify clearly what students have to do in English; • most EAP courses are fixed term: short professional courses or longer foundation courses; • in preparation for academic courses students may need specialist language, but not necessarily; courses are defined by the activities the students will engage in; and • a very high level of proficiency may not be required; students need to succeed in their aims. EDULEARN 2014

5. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Until the 1990’s the discussions of authors of EAP books (e.g. Robinson, 1991) dealt mainly with EAP in inner-circle countries where students were expected to be studying alongside mainstream native speakers (NS) students. The term EAP was in fact to some extent being used as a synonym for study skills. EDULEARN 2014

6. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes ThreeenvironmentsofEAP: • classic EAP (non-native speakers (NNS) study in English speaking countries); • domestic EAP (NNS study at universities in the home country where some study programmes are taught in English); • new EAP (NNS study in non-English speaking countries other than their own). EDULEARN 2014

7. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes To accommodate the needs of NNS studying in thosethreeenvironments, teachers of EAP need to pay particular attention to the following: • relevant level of English proficiency for their EAP study; • discipline-specific communication skills, such as the acquisition of discipline-specific vocabulary or writing a subject-specific seminar paper; and • intercultural communication competences. EDULEARN 2014

8. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Criticismof EAP • the limitations of students’ questions; • whole-class discussion; • small-group work. (Benesch, 2001) X Czechia - absence of any compulsory study skills courses in their own native language. EDULEARN 2014

9. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Conclusion EAP teachersshouldfocus not only on what to teach but alsohow to teachthiswhat. EDULEARN 2014

10. CurrentUnderstandingofConcepts and PrinciplesofEnglishforAcademicPurposes Thank you for your attention. EDULEARN 2014