INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS: CEFR AND ACADEMIC ENGLISH ELENA FRUMINA 18 JUNE, 2015

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS Do they exist in EAP? What are they?

WHAT IS EAP EAP means Enabling Academic Participation Steve Kirk, Durham University, UK

What is CEFR? Can we use it for EAP?

ENGLISH IN THE ACADEMIC CONTEXT Professional context Academic context Broad social and cultural context

ENGLISH IN THE ACADEMIC CONTEXT ESP EAP EGP

ENGLISH IN THE RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY CONTEXT Are these contexts related to each others in real life? Are they related in teaching/learning English in the Russian university context? Are they related to each other in English medium universities?

WHAT TO TEACH Specific skills related to academic context? Discipline related skills? Skills related to academic discourse?

SKILLS RELATED TO ACADEMIC CONTEXT Academic practices, values and conventions Cognitive capacity and metacognitive strategies required to cope with the courses

DISCIPLINE RELATED SKILLS Recognizing and exploring disciplines and how they influence the way knowledge is expanded and constructed

SKILLS RELATED TO ACADEMIC DISCOURSE: ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL GENRE LISTENING AND SPEAKING GENRE Introduction to place of work, study, laboratory, etc. Professional telephone conversations Interviews Socialising, personal conversations Consultations Negotiations Professional talks, presentations Academic lectures, co nference presentations READING AND WRITING GENRE Notices and memoranda Instructions Product descriptions Applications, bids and tenders Proposals and recommendations Contracts Research articles Textbooks Professional books

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES ACADEMIC SPEAKING Demonstrate presentation skills Ask for advice and feedback Respond to advice and feedback Show disagreement Take part in group work analysing and solving problems Tell other people when they are wrong Co-operate and complete group tasks Contribute to discussion in seminars ACADEMIC READING Access non-literal interpretation of texts Apply analytical approach Understand relevance and status of academic journals Scan texts and identify key points/sections Analyse and discuss written texts as group activity Synthesise information

GENRE ACROSS DISCIPLINES: GENRE FAMILIES 1.Case study 2. Critique 3. Design specification 4. Empathy writing 5. Essay 6. Exercise 7. Explanation 8. Literature review 9. Methodology recount 10. Narrative account 11. Problem question 12. Proposal 13. Research H Nesi & Gardner S (2012: 34)

Social functionGenre families Demonstrating knowledge and understanding Explanation, Exercise Developing powers of independent reasoning Critique, Essay Building research skillsLiterature Survey, Methodology, Recount, Research Report Preparing for professional practice Case Study, Design Specification, Problem Question, Proposal Writing for oneself and othersNarrative Recount< Empathy H NESI & GARDNER S (2012: 36)

ACADEMIC GENRE NETWORKS Stages: Descriptive account with optional explanations, evaluation with optional tests Networks: Research report, design specification, book review Genre family: Critique Purpose: develop understanding of the objects or ability to evaluate/assess the significance of smth Examples: academic paper review, approach evaluation, business environment analysis, interpretation of results, project evaluation

What are the most frequently used genre?

Critique and argumentation can be found across all family genre across all departments Nesi & Gardner (2012: 34)

THE ROLE OF STUDY SKILLS “Study skills are the techniques….. They are the ways of thinking and behaving ….in order to learn any academic subject effectively” Waters &Waters (1995:8)

THE ROLE OF STUDY SKILLS Study skills= learning to learn skills= life skills

QUESTIONS Why should we teach study skills? What specific academic competences should we teach? Should we teach Academic English at A1, A2, B1 levels?

WHAT IS EAP SYLLABUS?

REFERENCES BALEAP Can-do Framework for EAP Syllabus Design and Assessment (draft 2012) Gustafsson, M (Ed.) (2011). Collaborating for content and language integrated learning [Special Issue]. Across the Disciplines, 8(3). Retrieved February 28, 2014, from Nesi, N & S Gardner (2012) Genre Across Disciplines, CUP, Cambridge West, R (2012) Proposal for academic English framework in E Frumina & R West. Internalisation of Russian higher education: The English language dimention. British Council.Moscow