Resources for English for Academic Purposes: Teacher Education

Ferreira, M. M. and MacDiarmid, C. (2019) Resources for English for Academic Purposes: Teacher Education. Project Report. British Council.

Abstract

Internationalisation in higher education has brought with it the increasing use of English for academic communication between expert academics and for students in English, and the concomitant need to support academic staff and students in using English for academic purposes (EAP). This in turn raises the need for teachers of EAP. However, there is little in the way of EAP specific teacher education or research into EAP teacher needs. The research presented here investigated experiences and views of EAP instructors, both novice and experienced in one university context, the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. We aimed to identify challenges faced by instructors delivering four types of EAP provision at USP along with skills, knowledge and experience required for these roles. In doing so, we wanted to propose courses that might be added to the English Major curriculum and to a framework for structured EAP teacher education at USP. A qualitative approach employing focus groups and interviews was taken asking participants to reflect on their EAP teaching experiences. This was complemented by insights from the pedagogical coordinator of three of the programmes. Prompts for discussion were informed by three theoretical frameworks: Ferguson’s (1997) specialised teacher knowledge, Schulman’s teacher knowledge base (1986) and the BALEAP Competency Framework for Teachers of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP-CF) (2008). A framework analysis (Parkinson et al., 2016) was employed to identify codes and themes. We found a range of challenges, some specific to the provision and level of experience and some common to all. We identified aspects of EAP teacher knowledge that elicited little if any attention, e.g. understanding of disciplines and writing as social practice. Together the findings provided us with valuable information to inform frameworks for EAP teacher education for example, the ‘Letters’ curriculum at USP. Based on the findings we present also three ‘EAP Teacher Toolkit’ tasks.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the UK-Brazil English Collaboration Call, under the University of Sao Paulo and the University of Glasgow partnership. The grant is funded by the British Council.
• Keywords: EAP, teacher education, teacher development.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: MacDiarmid, Dr Carole
• Authors: Ferreira, M. M., and MacDiarmid, C.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LB Theory and practice of education; L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education; P Language and Literature > PE English
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Language Centre
• Publisher: British Council
• ISBN: 9788575063828
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
		UK Brazil English Collaboration Call	Dr Marilia M. Ferreira	British Council, University of Sao Paulo, University of Glasgow	UNSPECIFIED