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Academic Literacy in a Pool of Academic Literacies? Intercultural Needs of Students and the Role of EAP Teachers
Frank Lauterbach Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany
Anna Grynchuk Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 2
C- Student: “You gave me a C- on my last assignment for your Academic Writing course because you said it was badly written and lacked organization. I don't understand that because I used a paper from my German Studies class that the professor really liked and that I just translated into English."
Stakeholder Comments (1)
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 3
Director of the University Medical Centre: “I would like for our Ph.D. candidates to present and network at international conferences. They are all smart young people, but I am afraid they are lacking the skills to sell and defend themselves well enough in English. Can't you offer a course to support them?”
Stakeholder Comments (2)
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 4
Lecturer in American History: “I expect my students to write their term papers in English. Therefore, I have been sending them to your Academic English class so that they could learn how to express themselves more academically in English, but what I get now sounds more like high-school essays rather than the type of German-style Hausarbeiten I expect."
Stakeholder Comments (3)
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 5
C-
Stakeholder Comments (Summary)
Main Expectation of Stakeholders
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Translatability of existing skills
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Issue: Cultural Relativity
Assumption: Existing Literacy
Expectation: Building upon that Literacy
Ensuing Challenges for German EAP Teachers
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 8
Outline of the Presentation
1. State of EAP Teaching
in Germany
2. Analysis of
Writing Samples
3. Our Approach to
EAP Teaching
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 9
too German!
bad!
not adequate!
wrong!
Typical Teachersʼ Comments on Studentsʼ Writing
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 10
Focus of Textbooks
Developing General Literacy:
84%
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 11
Textbooks: Example
Identify at least two problems highlighted in the text. For each one, identify any solution(s) and evaluation given.
(Oxford EAP Advanced, p. 155)
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 12
Textbooks: Student Reactions
• I want to learn how to write and not how to complete exercises.
• Do we really need a textbook?
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 13
Key Challenges for German EAP Classes
• building upon existing literacies;
• developing academic identities;
• empowering students.
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 14
Writing Sample 1: Regular Student
You are eating pork for dinner with your dog sitting next to you. A normal situation to everyone who enjoys to eat meat, a so called omnivore. The term Carnism is made up by the social psychologist Melanie Joy and describes the classification of particular species as food. This classification relates to our culture. What then is our relation towards animals? Why do we pet dogs, eat turkeys and wear leather made out of cows?
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 15
Writing Sample 2: Doctoral Student
An antibody is a protein. It is produced by blood cells for the recognition of pathogens such as bacteria or viruses. Each antibody type recognizes and binds only one specific pathogen in the way of a lock-and-key principle. As a result of the binding, the pathogen is removed from the organism. This binding property is used in medicine and research. Medical applications include therapy and diagnosis. In research, they are used for the specific detection of targets of interest. Since these two fields require large numbers of antibodies, artificial mass-production methods of antibodies have been developed.
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 16
Our Approach
Native Literacy
Cultural Implications Reading Experience
3 Levels
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1. Psychological Level
Students can see the need of the reader's perspective.
Focus on the students' own reading experience
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 18
2. Discursive Level
Students can distinguish between different contextual (cultural, disciplinary) discourses.
Focus on the students' personal and collective writing habits
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 19
3. Strategic Level
Students can assess the impact of their own writing.
Focus on the effect of alternatives within the students' own writing
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 20
Conclusion
Psychological Level
Strategic Level
Discursive Level
Native Literacy
LACK POTENTIAL X
Anna Grynchuk Frank Lauterbach 21
References
• Alexander, Olwyn, Sue Argent and Jenifer Spencer. EAP Essentials: A Teacher’s Guide to Principles and Practice. Reading: Garnet, 2008.
• de Chazal, Edward and Julie Moore. Oxford EAP: A Course in English for Academic Purposes. Advanced / C1. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013.
• Siepmann, Dirk. "Academic Writing and Culture: An Overview of Differences between English, French and German". Meta 51:1 (2006), 131-150.
• Turner, Joan. Language in the Academy: Cultural Reflexivity and Intercultural Dynamics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2011.
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