A TALE OF 2 PARTNERSHIPS: THE CHALLENGES OF SMALL- SCALE AND LARGE-SCALE RESEARCH COMMUNITIES WITHIN ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES (EAP) Mary Davis Oxford Brookes International

RESEARCH COMMUNITIES A Virtual Research Community (VRC) is a group of researchers, possibly widely dispersed, working together effectively through the use of information and communications technology. Within the community, researchers can collaborate, communicate, share resources, access remote equipment or computers and produce results as effectively as if they, and the resources they require, were physically co-located. (VRC Final Report, 2006) Collaboration..everyone’s view is taken as a contribution to understanding the situation (Winter, 1996)

PARTNERSHIP 1 WITHIN BALEAP Meeting at BALEAP conference 2007 Researcher – looking for new ways to teach phrases in writing, and to raise awareness of distinction between academic phrases and plagiarism Researcher at University of Manchester (Director of Language Centre, PhD Applied Linguistics, developer of Academic Phrasebank (AP) ) developed 2005, looking for ways to research AP, to collect data on effectiveness and to further develop AP

PARTNERSHIP 2 WITHIN BALEAP Research Officer for BALEAP sent out survey to discussion group to start a tracking project, October 2008 BALEAP members from 16 UK universities agreed to be in the tracking group Separated into 2 groups of 16 (the “North” co- ordinated from Sheffield, the “South” co- ordinated from London) 5 dropped out, now all co-ordinated by Sheffield Universities currently involved: Glasgow, Reading, University of the Arts, London, Kent, Sheffield Hallam, Southampton, Leeds, Exeter, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford Brookes

FUNDING AND SUPPORT Hard to get funding and support No funding Minimal support Easier to get some funding and support Funding of transport and accommodation to meet Support from organisation Recognised as “working party” on BALEAP website Support for conference based on WP work Small-scaleLarge-scale

OBJECTIVES Specific, focused To investigate the impact of teaching academic phrases on postgraduate students’ ability to recognise and re-use them To examine the perceived role and usefulness of academic phrases, according to students and experts General, less focused To evaluate the effectiveness of EAP provision by tracking students through degrees Small-scaleLarge-scale

COMMUNICATION Direct, manageable Phone meetings Not direct, unmanageable Vast number of s Lots of disagreement Gaps in contact Use of new technology Facebook, Moodle Lots of sharing of ideas and contexts 2 face-to-face meetings (London and Sheffield) Small-scaleLarge-scale

METHODOLOGY Easy to agree and plan Set up in advance Planned specific activities with Pre- Master’s students Collection of assignments Analysis Follow-up interviews Not easy to agree or plan No agreement on methodology because of different contexts and views Examples of methodology shared but not followed Only similar in principle Small-scaleLarge-scale

OUTPUT AND DISSEMINATION Easier to put together 5 conferences over 2 year period 1 publication accepted, another planned Harder to get to the point of output and dissemination One one-day conference planned after a 2.5 year period Small-scaleLarge-scale

BENEFITS Easier to communicate, establish objectives and methodology Opportunities for attendance at several conferences Funding, support, useful comparisons of practice across many universities Able to set up a conference dedicated to the group Small-scaleLarge-scale

DRAWBACKS No funding, little support, a sense of being on one’s own Harder to communicate, achieve consensus, establish joint objectives, be productive Small-scaleLarge-scale

REFERENCES Morley, J. (2005). Academic Phrasebank. Available at VRC Final Report (2006). Report of the Working Group on Virtual Research Communities for the OSI e-Infrastructure Steering Group. Retrieved 30/5/10 from Winter, R. (1996). Some principles and procedures for the conduct of action research. In O. Zuber-Skerritt (ed.) New Directions in Action Research. London: Falmer.