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A competent EAP teacher is someone who...
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Wed, 03/11/2009 - 21:54
The British Assiciation of lecturers of English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP) has recently published a framework of the core competencies that EAP
teachers need to bring to their role in order to fulfil its functions
completely. The framework was developed using a 3-stage survey of EAP
practitioners in the UK between April 2005 and January 2006, and further evaluated
in a conference workshop in April 2007. The framework is
intended to provide guidance for the professional development of
teachers, and those responsible for training them.
It would be interesting to get comments from practising EAP/ESP teachers on the descriptions of core competencies in the framework. It is available to download from the BALEAP website at http://www.baleap.org.uk/teap/index.aspx
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:31
#2
Hi Pete,
These are good points you've made. Regarding disciplinary differences, some pre-sessionals invite subject lecturers in to talk to the students prior to their courses or to give lectures so that's one way to find out about differences. However, I would also expect the people responsible for course design and management of the pre-sessional to be using subject-specific materials, which would help students to understand such things as the structure and language of genres in their field or citation practices. Of course some pre-sessionals only see themselves as IELTS preparation courses but I think this seriously underrepresents what students will be required to do in their degrees.
Technology also gets a mention in the first competency relating to academic practice 'knowledge and understanding of modes of knowledge communication and publication including... electronic media' and in the competency relating to teaching practice 'ability to integrate IT into delivery to enhance IT skills and relfect academic practices'. We tried to highlight competencies which were specifically related to EAP rather than general communication skills, hence also the focus on discourse in the knowledge about language competency.
These are defintely intended to represent best practice and are, therefore, for teachers and teacher trainers to work towards. We thought they could form a framework for the induction and development of teachers on, for example, pre-sessional courses.
Olwyn
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 19:41
#3
Hi Olwyn,
Looking at the area of disciplinary differences, I agree with what you say. I suppose what I want to get at is that ideally there needs to be active collaboration between receiving departments and language support units (or whatever they may be called); if that exists then everything falls into place. I wonder to what extent this actually happens and what can be done to improve this. I feel this competency is something that a teacher cannot be expected to develop in a vacuum.
As far as technology is concerned, I should learn never, never, to post a comment after skimming quickly - I confess to having merely searched the document for "technology" :-o Even so, I would have liked to see a competency devoted to technology rather that it being subsumed into other statements - as far as I can see it doesn't appear anywhere in the summary of competency statements. It's a question of emphasis - I feel that a statement of competencies that looks forward to future might put a bit more stress on an area that is continually changing and transforming academic study - surely it is imperative that an EAP teacher has the skills to handle these changes?
Pete
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 20:00
#4
Hi Pete,
I agree with you that a teacher cannot develop an understanding of disciplinary differences in a vacuum, although this is all too often what he/she is expected to do. I did recently see a presentation by a subject lecturer and an EAP specialist at the University of Nortumbria who had developed a very nice model for embedding the EAP specialist and her courses within the department and the degree but this was for in-sessional provision. This kind of collaboration is rare though and it's harder to acheive for pre-sessionals.
I know what you mean about the question of emphasis when it comes to technology in the competency statements. I think we probably haven't captured this well in the overall competencies and we'll have to revisit it. We certainly don't see this framework as set in stone but as a work in progress.
I do wonder though whether technology has really changed the fundamental approach to good teaching or whether it is just another publishing tool / means of delivery that competent teachers can use to do what they've always done, i.e. stage and scaffold learning to suit the needs of their learners.
Actually, I've just discovered a post by Gavin in another forum which says much better than I can what I was thinking. I guess he won't mind if I quote it here >As has been pointed out elsewhere, nobody ever talked of 'Pen Assisted Language Learning', but we still insist on making a big thing out of technology, which is probably why it hasn't gained the
acceptance and 'normalisation' that it should.<
What do you think about this?
Olwyn
Sun, 03/15/2009 - 18:46
#5
Hi Olwyn,
Yes I pretty much agree with this. It reminded me of something I wrote in 1998 which, amazingly, is still out there in cyberspace. This links in nicely with our discussions about materials, but I am absolutely horrified to see that I'm still banging on about the same stuff ten years later. Truly depressing ...
Pete
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:30
#6
The one who is enthusiastic in helping students to learn more.
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:33
#7
Hi Su,
I agree absolutely with this. A significant problem for EAP teachers can be lack of enthusiasm for the texts, tasks and ideas in their students' disciplines, particularly if these are in science and engineering. How can teachers overcome this?
Olwyn
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 16:58
#8
Yes, Olwyn, absolutely. and how can bridges between our passion for our disciplines (Applied Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics, and so on) and our students' disciplines can be built? Possibly through an overarching passion for knowledge? Through looking at paradigms (Kuhn style) and reflecting on what we are all together doing for the world?
best
Andrea
Hi Olwyn,
From a quick glance the framework is a great idea, but I have two immediate observations.
I've done quite a few pre-sessional courses in the UK and one thing that I have always found a little tricky is the area of disciplinary differences. It often seems that there really isn't that much information available - receiving departments may not be that interested in sharing information, and pre-sessional tutors don't know in advance what subject areas they will be dealing with, nor have the time once the course begins to research it. So I'm not sure to what extent I feel comfortable with this being considered a core competence; not unless university departments are willing to work with EAP teachers to develop this competence
My other worry is that technology only seems to be mentioned rather somewhat vaguely / tangentially. "The use of new technologies to support autonomous learning" doesn't have a lot of meat on it. Given the role that technology plays in tertiary education I would have expected something a little more developed.
Pete