Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Blanka Frydrychova Klimova University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Informatics and Management uhk.cz EDULEARN 2014

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Outline Introduction – EAP and its perception Three environments of EAP Criticism of EAP Conclusion EDULEARN 2014

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes EDULEARN 2014 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 the branches 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).

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes 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

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes 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

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Three environments of EAP: 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

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes To accommodate the needs of NNS studying in those three environments, 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

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Criticism of 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

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Conclusion EAP teachers should focus not only on what to teach but also how to teach this what. EDULEARN 2014

Current Understanding of Concepts and Principles of English for Academic Purposes Thank you for your attention. EDULEARN 2014