EAP teacher competencies for master’s level research skills training

Olwyn Alexander

Vocational taught postgraduate programmes are designed to promote students’ professional development by providing insights from academic research which can inform professional practice. The mandatory research component is what distinguishes these programmes from other forms of professional development. EAP practitioners have competencies, as described in the BALEAP EAP Teacher Competency Framework, which can inform research skills training on these programmes.

Overview of the session

Aim: to use the BALEAP Competency Framework for Teachers of EAP to identify competencies required for training MSc students for research

• The taught master’s programme in Higher Education• Student motivations for doing a master’s degree• Enhancing graduate attributes• Research-teaching linkages • What is research? • Research training for master’s students• The role of the EAP tutor/teacher/lecturer • The Research Skills Project an experiential approach• Mapping this role to the BALEAP Competency Framework

Taught Master’s Programmes

• Postgraduate numbers, especially on taught master’s programmes growing rapidly.

• One of the fastest growing groups is overseas postgraduates, increasing by 8% from 2007 to 2008.

Year UK Postgraduates Overseas postgraduates

1969 39,852 n/a

1979 100,000 n/a

1999 314,562 88,778

2008 501,135 103,695

Deem and Lucas (2006) and Higher Education Student Enrolments, retrieved 15.03.09 from http://www.hesa.ac.uk/

Taught Master’s Programmes

• Taught Master’s programmes, typically one year, can be

– vocational, e.g. Translation and Interpreting

– semi-vocational, e.g. Strategic Project Management

– academic: a staging post between an undergraduate degree and a PhD, e.g. Theoretical Physics.

• On vocational/semi-vocational programmes, there is an emphasis on the application of theory to professional practice as part of continuing professional development.

• The research component is seen as a key aspect of these degrees distinguishing them from other types of qualifications, e.g. diploma.

Deem and Lucas (2006); Anderson, Day and McLaughlin (2006)

Students on Master’s Programmes

• The vocational/semi-vocational degrees are usually stand-alone and do not follow on from a previous undergraduate degree.

• Students are likely to come from a variety of disciplines.• Some may have relevant work experience but they have been out of

higher education for a number of years.• Students’ motivations for studying taught master’s degrees

– tend to be extrinsic: to improve their career prospects, – rather than intrinsic: to grow as a person or pursue a research

career.• Students who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to value the

research component.• Those who are extrinsically motivated tend to find research an

intrusion.• Nevertheless, research is seen as a key means of enhancing

graduate attributes.

Deem and Lucas (2006); Breen and Lindsay (1999)

Enhancing graduate attributes

Doing research enhances graduate attributes by developing:

– a sense of ‘research-mindedness’ enabling a wider more analytical perspective on individual practice

– ability to identify problems, formulate research questions and interpret complex data to seek answers

– ability to derive meaning from complexity and make informed judgments on the basis of evidence

– openness to learning and positive orientation to new opportunities, ideas and ways of thinking

– tolerance for ambiguity and unfamiliarity.

Land, R. (2008) Enhancement Theme Conference: Research-Teaching Linkages http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/AETC2008/RayLand.pdf

Graduate attributes are 'the skills, knowledge and abilities of university graduates, beyond disciplinary content knowledge, which are applicable to a range of contexts'. Barrie (2004: 262)

Enhancing Graduate Attributes through Research – teaching Linkages

• The Enhancement Themes initiative in Scottish higher education aims to enhance the student learning experience by identifying specific themes for development.

• Since July 2006 one of the themes has been enhancing graduate attributes through research-teaching linkages.

• The Theme was concerned with:– the progressive development of graduate attributes throughout

the undergraduate and postgraduate programme– how best to support the achievement of such attributes using

research [among other means] to inform: • the curriculum • teaching, learning and assessment activities• the learning environment.

Enhancement Themes. Retrieved 15.03.09 from http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/themes/default.asp

Research – teaching linkages

• Evidence from qualitative interview studies shows that ‘academics continue to hold strong beliefs regarding a symbiotic relationship between research and teaching.’ (Robertson, 2007)

• Nevertheless, the link between research and teaching is complex, unstable and contested.

• The relationship varies according to – type of institution (more or less research-intensive)

– level of teaching (undergraduate or postgraduate)

– discipline (hard – soft – pure – applied)

– the meanings associated with teaching and research.

• Healey (2005a: 91) suggests that ‘there is a case for teaching to become more like research and to adopt similar standards of argument and what counts as evidence.’

Robertson (2007); Deem & Lucas (2006); Healey (2005a)

Linking teaching and research

STUDENT FOCUSED

Students as participants

TEACHER FOCUSED

Students as audience

Emphasis on research content

Emphasis on research processes and problems

Research-based

Students undertake enquiry-based learning and reflect on the outcomes

Research-tutored

Students write about and discuss research papers

Research-oriented

Students are taught processes of knowledge construction – often through lectures

Research-led

Students are taught subject content which derives from research

Healy, M. (2005b)

What is research?

• The minimal definition … is that research is a systematic process of inquiry consisting of three elements or components:

1. a question, problem or hypothesis, 2. data, 3. analysis and interpretation of data.

• Research is a journey; it starts with a problem and an attempt to understand the problem.

• You start out with a plan but you don’t know until you arrive what you will find.

• Research has to be communicated and there are conventional ways to do this.

• The broader the definition of what counts as ‘research’ the easier it is to link it with teaching.

Nunan (1994) p3; Carden (2006) personal communication; Healey (2008) p 164

Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P. & Thornhill , A. (2000) Research Methods for Business Students, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Limited: Essex

SamplingQuestionnairesSecondary data

Statistical analysis

Content analysis Case study

CodingInterviews

Observation

Data Collection & analysis Methods

ExperimentSurvey

Case studyAction research

Discourse analysis Grounded theory

Ethnography

Theoretical perspective

Research Approaches Methodology

Positivism:search for

causal explanations

Deductive

Interpretivism:competing

interpretations of phenomena

Inductive

What is research?

Discipline-specific student views about research and access to research

Physics English Geography

Breaking new ground; exploration & discovery

Looking into; not visible but apparent in dialogue

Gathering data in the field; answering a question

• In subjects such as physics and maths there is a body of knowledge to be learned before students can contribute. Students see research as ‘higher up’, something that lecturers do.

• In subjects such as English knowledge is ‘flatter’ and more accessible. Students see research as ‘in the library, in the head’, something they can participate in almost from the beginning.

• In subjects such as geography students have ‘a sense of research community expressed in a shared methodology’. Research is ‘out there in the field’.

Robertson and Blackler (2006); Robertson (2007)

Types of research – in order of prestige

• Discovery research – most valued, e.g. for the RAE, seeks new knowledge and understanding.

• Applied research – application of existing knowledge and skills to solve problems in society, may also include consultancy: expert advice to clients.

• Integrative research – synthesising knowledge and understanding, often from more than one discipline, e.g. writing a textbook.

• In a ‘knowledge society’ where knowledge is a commodity – research is context specific and has social relevance

– research is multidisciplinary and uses ‘fuzzy data’ to solve problems

• Research requires skills to apply knowledge to solve new problems rather than advancing knowledge itself.

Boyer (1990) in Healey (2005a); Jenkins and Zetter (2003) in Healey (2005a)

Types of research – in order of prestige

• The Cinderella in the classification system is pedagogic research, which involves:

– engagement with scholarly contributions on teaching and learning

– reflection on one’s own teaching practice and the learning of students within the context of a discipline

– communication of practice and theory about teaching and learning – in general and within a discipline

Martin, Prosser and Trigwell (1999) in Healey (2005a)

Research on research training

• Undergraduate– benefits of project work and alternative types of assessment for

making research training motivating, collaborative, student-centred and fun (Benson and Blackman, 2003; Waite and Davis, 2006)

• Postgraduate, PhD– the impact of research training on PhD students, the relationship

with supervisors and how research students are socialised into their disciplines (Birbili, 2003; Deem and Lucas, 2006)

– the search for common approaches to research within one discipline (Metz, 2001) or across diverse disciplines (Miller and Brimicombe, 2004)

• Postgraduate, Master’s– Models and metaphors of the supervision process (Grant, 2003;

Anderson et al., 2006; Dysthe et al., 2006)

How should research training be delivered?

• Learning about research should take place in a research-rich environment

Deem and Lucas (2006)• Students benefit from ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ in research

communities of practice. Lave and Wenger (1990)• Research training should involve an exploratory approach so students

experience the frustrations and excitements of the research process.Robertson and Blacker (2006)• The learning process needs to be transparent at all stages to

encourage reflectionBenson and Blackman (2003)• Students should be supported to see research as a dynamic process

like learning to speak a language: learning by doing, learning by immersion, learning from mistakes.

Birbili (2003)

How is research training often delivered?

• Sometimes taught by academics interested in exploring their own teaching practice, e.g. Healey (2005a, b)

• Can be taught by Centres for Teaching and Learning or Educational Development Units.

• Also taught by junior academics - delegated the task• This leads to a great deal of variety in the quality of research

training courses.• The worst ones use a lecture-based method of teaching:

– focusing on theory rather than practice– defining terms such as epistemology, ontology and plagiarism

without contextualising these– describing proposals, literature reviews or questionnaire design– describing the academics’ own PhD research.

• The student is left with the feeling…

Benson and Blackman (2003) plus observation of training sessions

OK but what do you want me to do?

A role for EAP staff?

• The increasing number of master’s students means that more time needs to be given to supervising their dissertation research.

• Thus, subject lecturers will have less time for their own research.

• Would they welcome initiatives to reduce the amount of time spent on research training for students and also on supervision?

• The Enhancement themes report found ‘a greater awareness of research teaching linkages in the teaching community than in the research community’.

• EAP staff can bring the scholarship of teaching and learning to research training together with a critical perspective towards discipline practices (Chanock, 2007; Cadman, 2002).

• A focus on the analysis of the language and processes of communication is often taken for granted by subject specialists.

http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/ResearchTeaching/Sectorwide_ExecSum.pdf

The origin of Research Skills Project

• Erasmus Mundus

– European cooperation and mobility programme

– provides support for implementation of joint postgraduate degrees

– mandatory requirement for language and cultural studies

• Erasmus Mundus European Master’s in Strategic Project Management http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/projects/action1/mspme_en.pdf

– partner institutions: Heriot-Watt University (UK), Technical University of Milan (Italy), and Umeå University (Sweden).

– partners chose to interpret requirement as language and culture of research and invited EAP tutor to deliver this module.

– existing project component on pre-sessional course adapted for higher level of research training.

Research Skills Project - module aims

• to develop a sense of research-mindedness• to build a community of research practice in which you interact

with research in a variety of ways – You will read about research and listen to lectures– You will be subjects in an ongoing research project– You will do your own research project– You will teach your colleagues about an aspect of research

methodology• to prepare some of you to be able to publish your dissertation

research online or in academic journals

Specific learning outcomes

• Work effectively in a learning team• Design and carry out a small research project in your field of study• Take responsibility for completing the project within self-imposed

parameters (e.g. time)• Raise your awareness of the functions and linguistic features of

academic research genres• Develop your ability to express an evidence-based viewpoint in texts

with an appropriate degree of certainty

• Develop your ability to think critically about sources and

presentation of information

Assessment tasks – genre network

Assessment tasks provide evidence of ability to communicate each stage of the research process– Annotated bibliography – team exercise – encourages you to

read around your subject and document your sources– Research proposal – requires you to specify a research question

and a methodology for data collection– Research methodology – team presentation – encourages you

to gain an understanding of appropriate research paradigms for Strategic Project Management and how these are applied

– Final report – requires you to communicate your research findings and show how they fit into the wider SPM research field

– Reflective statement – requires you to reflect on how your understanding of research has developed

EAP Teacher Competencies

• BALEAP has established a framework of the core competencies of a professional EAP practitioner.

• The framework is based on a three-stage survey of EAP practitioners conducted between April 2005 and January 2006.

• It represents best practice as viewed by experienced practitioners.• The competencies are specified at masters level.• The framework consists of an overall competency statement and 11

statements relating to – Academic Practice– EAP Students– Curriculum Development– Programme Implementation

• The framework can be used for self-monitoring of professional development.

Overall competency statement

– consider each competency statement in turn

– illustrate with aspects of my practice on the module

– outline the challenges involved

An EAP teacher will be able to facilitate students’ acquisition of the language, skills and strategies required for studying in a further or higher education context and to support students’ understanding of approaches to interpreting and responding to the requirements of academic tasks and their related processes.

Academic contexts

• member of the course development team, attended meetings with partners, reviewed programme handbook in relation to the research component, attended exam and progression boards

• required to understand and follow university procedures in relation to student submissions, disciplinary issues, external review of tasks and grades

Challenges: • ensuring teaching materials, assessment tasks and grades were

specified at masters level• conflicting lecturer expectations e.g. with regard to genres and

related terminology: essay, data, primary and secondary sources

An EAP teacher will have a reasonable knowledge of the organizational, educational and communicative policies, practices, values and conventions of universities.

Disciplinary differences

– attended subject lectures: Project Management, Strategic Alignment of the Project Portfolio.

– critically assessed approach to research in the field during discussions with programme director and lecturers

– peer observation of classes with subject lecturer

– critiqued research papers in the field with students

Challenges:

– becoming an ‘interactional expert’: able to talk about the subject with staff while not myself contributing to knowledge building.

– aligning my approach to research with the discipline paradigms

An EAP teacher will be able to recognize and explore disciplinary differences in relation to knowledge and how they influence the way knowledge is expanded and communicated.

Academic discourse

• based module syllabus on research genre network: bibliography → research question → proposal → literature review → research report → presentation.

• identified purpose, audience and moves in genres and sub-genres (e.g. introduction) using texts produced by former students

• supported students to evaluate these texts using assessment criteria based on genre analysis

• read and analysed research papers with students to discover how research is communicated.

Challenges:• understanding how research paper reflects theoretical perspective,

e.g. interpretivist• mediating between staff and student understanding of genres

An EAP teacher will have a high level of systemic language knowledge including knowledge of discourse analysis.

Personal learning, development and autonomy

• aware of teaching research skills and communication while not actively engaged in communicating research

• required extensive reading of literature about research training and research-teaching linkages

• attended a module in research methods aimed at PhD students

Challenges:

• developing an understanding of the contested nature of research paradigms in social science

• conducting action research with each successive cohort of students to improve the course and understand learning processes

• justifying delivery methods and module content to senior research-active colleagues who were suspicious of my role

An EAP teacher will recognize the importance of applying to his or her own practice the standards expected of students and other academic staff.

Student needs

• immersed students in the target research culture by attempting to build a community of practice

• invited subject lecturers to give feedback on research questions and final presentations to support the community of practice

• required students to engage with the research process and its genre network from the beginning of their course

Challenges:• large multicultural group with considerable prior experience• mixture of native speakers, fluent second language speakers and

struggling non-native speakers of English

An EAP teacher will understand the requirements of the target context that students wish to enter as well as the needs of students in relation to their prior learning experiences and how these might influence their current educational expectations.

Student critical thinking

• pre-course questionnaire revisited at the end aids reflection• annotated bibliography requires evaluation of sources for relevance

to a research question• focusing research question raises awareness of the scope of

master’s level research• Critique of research papers and evaluation of student work raises

awareness of criteria for successful communication of research• ongoing evaluation of module components and delivery methods

Challenges:• supporting students who find self or peer-evaluation threatening• understanding how to critique research methodology in the field

An EAP teacher will understand the role of critical thinking in academic contexts and will employ tasks processes and interactions that require students to demonstrate critical thinking skills.

Student autonomy

• required team development component in all modules• Belbin questionnaire for team formation and reflection• two team assignments with peer assessment• students individually responsible for specifying research question

and setting timetable for data collection and writing up.

Challenges:• commitment to team working for duration of module• enabling feedback on team working using peer facilitators• dealing with conflict in teams• helping students cope with uncertainty and ambiguity in research

An EAP teacher will understand the importance of student autonomy in academic contexts and will employ tasks processes and interactions that require students to work effectively in groups or independently as appropriate.

Syllabus and programme delivery

• research skills module – not language module• genre-based syllabus delivered through team and individual tasks• students largely responsible for subject content: choosing research

topics and sites for data collection; presenting ideas to peers• tutor responsible for generic aspects of research process:

presenting genres, focusing questions, modelling evidence-based ways of thinking, giving feedback on performance.

Challenges:• one session of three hours per week • face validity: students initially suspicious of module and its value

An EAP teacher will understand the main types of language syllabus and will be able to transform a syllabus into a programme that addresses students’ needs in the academic context within which the EAP course is located.

Text processing and text production

• proposals and research papers presented as collections of sub-genres and relation between these demonstrated, e.g. introduction sets up theoretical framework for method; method guarantees quality of results; discussion attempts to generalise results to research field.

• students analyse a genre in class before producing it themselves• students practise talking about their research question with peers

before writing a proposal

Challenges:• face validity: especially NS students unused to genre analysis

An EAP teacher will understand approaches to text classification and discourse analysis and will be able to organize courses, units and tasks around whole texts or text segments in ways that develop students’ processing and production of spoken and written texts.

Teaching practices

• stable teams can be viewed as entities whose members will support each other in analytical tasks = small class of ‘large’ students

• sometimes necessary to provide input, e.g. on theoretical perspectives, through lectures

• students teach each other (in a formal team presentation) about an aspect of research methodology at the end of the module

Challenges:• Large class sizes: 26 > 38 > 50 over three years• student understanding of methodology may not be accurate

An EAP teacher will be familiar with the methods, practices and techniques of communicative language teaching and be able to locate these within an academic context and relate them to teaching the language and skills required by academic tasks and processes.

Assessment practices

• aims, learning outcomes and module content tied to assessment• assessment reflects authentic communication at each stage of the

research process

Challenges:• giving feedback or grading written work in terms of genre features

while not fully understanding content• mapping assessment on the module to other modules on the degree

to avoid overlap

An EAP teacher will be able to assess academic language and skills tasks using formative and summative assessment.

Conclusion

• Research should be viewed as a performance to be mastered rather than a body of knowledge to be delivered.

• EAP staff have competencies which enable them to deliver research training in this way.

• EAP approach to learning and teaching is – experiential: learning by working through a process– task-based: consisting of purposeful activities which prioritise

meaning and outcomes– text-based: focusing on genres required for communication of

outcomes– autonomous: relying on self and peers to take responsibility for

processes and tasks– reflective: being aware of processes and tasks– critical: evaluating effectiveness of processes and tasks

• EAP staff can problematise and critique discipline practices to give students greater ownership of their research.

References

Anderson, C., Day, K. and McLaughlin, P. (2006) Mastering the dissertation: lecturers’ representation of the purposes and processes of master’s level dissertation supervision. Studies in Higher Education, 31/2, pp 149 – 168.

BALEAP (2008) Competency Framework for Teachers of English for Academic Purposes. Retrieved from http://www.baleap.org.uk/teap/teap-competency-framework.pdf 28.03.09

Barrie, S (2004) A research-based approach to generic graduate attributes policy. Higher Education Research and Development, 23/3 pp 262.

Benson, A. and Blackman, D. (2003) Can research methods ever be interesting? Active Learning in Higher Education, 4/1, pp 39 – 55.

Breen, R. and Lindsay, R. (1999) Academic research and Student Motivation. Studies in Higher Education, 24/1, pp 75 – 93.

Cadman, K. (2002) English for academic possibilities: the research proposal as a contested site in postgraduate genre pedagogy. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 1/1, pp 85 – 104.

Chanock, K. (2007) What academic language and learning advisors bring to the scholarship of teaching and learning: problems and possibilities for dialogue with the disciplines. Higher Education research and Development, 26/3, pp 269 – 280.

References

Deem, R. and Lucas, L. (2006) Learning about research: exploring the learning and teaching/research relationship amongst educational practitioners studying in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 11/1, pp 1 – 18.

Dysthe, O., Samara, A. and Westrheim, K. (2006) Multivoiced supervision of master’s students: a case study of alternative supervision practices in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 31/3, pp 299 – 318.

Elton, l. (2005) Scholarship and the research and teaching nexus in R. Barnett (ed.) Reshaping the University. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Grant, B. (2003) Mapping the pleasures and risks of supervision. Discourse: studies in the politics of education, 24/2, pp 175 – 190.

Healy, M. (2005a) Linking research and teaching to benefit student learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29/2, pp 183 – 201.

Healy, M. (2005b) Linking research and teaching in R. Barnett (ed.) Reshaping the University. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Healy, M. (2008) Linking research and teaching to the benefit of student learning: research context, developments and future directions. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32/2, pp 163 – 166.

References

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Metz, M. H. (2001) Intellectual border crossing in graduate education: a report from the field. Educational researcher, 30/5, pp 12 – 18.

Miller, N. and Brimicombe, A. (2004) mapping research journeys across complex terrain with heavy baggage. Studies in Continuing Education, 26/3, 405 – 417.

Nunan, D. (1994) Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Robertson, J. (2007) Beyond the ‘research/teaching nexus’: exploring the complexity of academic experience. Studies in Higher Education, 32/5, pp 541 – 556.

Robertson, J and Blackler, G. (2006) Students’ experiences of learning in a research environment. Higher Education Research and Development, 25/3, pp 215 – 229.

Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P. & Thornhill , A. (2000) Research Methods for Business Students, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Limited: Essex