ROOM 2D1 ROOM 2D3 ROOM 2D2 ROOM 1F5 ROOM 1F12 9.00-9.45 REGISTRATION & COFFEE

9.45-10.00 WELCOME WELCOME 10.00-10.45 KEYNOTE SPEAKER 1

Olwyn Alexander An exploration of teacher beliefs about teaching EAP at low proficiency levels

KEYNOTE SPEAKER 1 Terry Philips EAP grammar for A2 students

10.50-11.30 CONCURRENT SESSION 1 Andy Gillett

EFL or EAP: no question Elizabeth Long Academic Orientation

Carl Ellis EFAP – Paving the way

Hasan Shikoh e-Boardwork: Simple yet Smart!

Bruce Howell How should, and how can, ‘low level EAP’ be assessed?

COFFEE BREAK – POSTER PRESENTATIONS 12.00-12.40 CONCURRENT SESSION 2 Ed de Chazal

What kind of EAP can we teach at A2?

Yolande Cerda & Simon Williams Deep end tasks for low level learners

Stella Smyth Case study – an in-sessional legal English course for Erasmus students

Sarah Clark Skills by Stealth: Introducing low-level EAP students to research skills and autonomy through projects

Jane Blackwell A psychosocial perspective on level

12.45-1.25 CONCURRENT SESSION 3 Ian Lebeau

She stoops but doesn’t conquer: why straight EAP isn’t for lower level students

Kerry Tavakoli Which comes first – integration, participation or motivation?

Neil Harris The AWL and lower levels: fit for purpose or fit for change

Alannah Fitzgerald Open Educational Resources for Lower Level EAP Learners

Simon Gooch & Marie Hanlon Testing the Foundations

LUNCH – POSTER PRESENTATIONS 2.30-3.15 KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2

Olwyn Alexander An exploration of teacher beliefs about teaching EAP at low proficiency levels

KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2 Terry Philips EAP grammar for A2 students

3.20-3.40 CONCURRENT SESSION 4

Claire Brett & Maxine Gillway Using on-line discussions to motivate low level learners.

Debbie Mann Communicating EAP concepts through materials design

Louise Pullen & Phil Horspool

Pre-Masters Diplomas:

Successfully bridging the gap?

Christopher Macallister Renovating the Pre-sessional EAP Curriculum: moving from EGAP to ESAP to cater for low level learners

Carolyn Westbrook Using “bite-size” chunks to

teach academic essay skills to

low-level learners.

3.45-4.05 CONCURRENT SESSION 5

Claire Brett & Maxine Gillway Motivating low level learners with e-portfolios

Debbie Mann Designing and developing a writing course for low level believers and achievers! (IELTS 3.5-4.5)

Helen Connies-Lang Creating a multi-level pre-sessional programme: does one size really fit all?

Sarah Brewer Using Jing in Reading

Deborah Anne Murphy Learner journals: a tool for developing fluency and voice in writing

TEA BREAK – POSTER PRESENTATIONS 4.30-5.00 ROUND UP SESSION

Shaded cells indicate workshop/swapshop sessions

PLENARY 2D1 10.00-10.45

An exploration of teacher beliefs about teaching EAP at low proficiency levels. Olwyn Alexander - co-author of EAP Essentials and Access EAP: Foundations for Garnet Education, Teaching Fellow for EAP at Heriot Watt University and Chair of BALEAP.

EAP is a growth area of English Language Teaching with many teachers experienced in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) making the transition to EAP. However, the approach to teaching EAP, with its emphasis on subject-specific instructional materials informed by corpus and genre studies, can be very different to CLT. Teachers with considerable experience sometimes report feeling deskilled when they first move to teaching EAP, effectively reverting to the status of novices in relation to this specialist type of language teaching. New EAP teachers cite their main challenges as dealing with subject-specific materials, understanding what EAP involves and understanding and meeting students’ needs.1 They are often unaware that the criteria they normally apply to identify needs or judge whether a lesson or course is successful are not necessarily the same in EAP teaching. Teachers’ beliefs about what constitutes good language teaching can have considerable impact on their classroom practices,2 and those who transfer their beliefs uncritically from CLT to EAP contexts may create barriers to effective learning for their students. Although beliefs can change as a result of new teaching situations, for this change to happen it is important to uncover what the beliefs are and reflect on how appropriate they are for the new challenges. In this talk I will explore teacher beliefs about teaching EAP to learners with a low level of proficiency (A2/B1 on the Common European framework of Reference). This level is particularly appropriate for exploring beliefs about teaching EAP because there is already a widely held but mistaken assumption that learners must acquire a common core of language first before they are ready to study a special variety such as EAP.

3 I will report the findings of a study of two CLT teachers piloting a new coursebook, Access EAP:

Foundations, specifically designed for low level learners. Beliefs about teaching, elicited through weekly interviews with the two teachers, were compared to the beliefs about teaching EAP which informed the development of the coursebook and which are supported in recent literature. From this first study, a questionnaire was developed which could be used to support the induction of CLT teachers into EAP programmes.

KEY NOTE SPEAKER 2D3 10.00-10.45

EAP grammar for A2 students Terry Philips - co-author with Anna Phillips of the multi-level EAP course, Skills in English and series editor of the English for Specific Academic Purposes series for Garnet Education.

There is a growing realisation that EAP is not 'a quick fix' which sits on top of a thousand plus hours of general English. Rather, it is a genre choice, with implications for the kind of grammar to be learnt, as well as the skills and vocabulary. This choice can, and arguably should, be made early in a student's language learning so valuable time is not 'wasted' on general English. One UK publisher, at least, has begun to publish low level EAP materials. However, teachers using such texts do not find the familiar grammatical progression. As this PIM has seen before, grammatical complexity in EAP lies principally in the noun phrase, clause joining and embedding, not in the verb tense. In this session, the presenter looks at a grammar syllabus for EAP students at A2, including the need to target particular grammatical issues in particular skills, rather than treat them all as common core. It also considers whether teachers are deskilled in their ability to teach grammar when we move away from verb tense focus, and the extent to which the teachers' toolbox of grammatical presentation and practice instruments needs to be modified or extended to deal effectively with low level EAP grammar.

1 Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer J. (2008) EAP Essentials: a teachers’ guide to principles and practice, pp 19 and 30 2 Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education: research and practice. London: Continuum.

3 Bloor, M. and Bloor, T. (1986) ‘Languages for Specific Purposes: practice and theory’. Centre for Language and Communication

Studies, Occasional Paper 19. Dublin: Trinity College.

Please note that the two keynote speakers will repeat their sessions after lunch

NOTES:

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1

10.50 – 11.30

EFL or EAP: no question - Andy Gillett – Room 2D1

In this presentation, I will argue that if we are clear about what we mean by EFL and EAP, then there is no gap to be filled and it is not necessary, perhaps even dangerous, to teach EFL before cutting to the EAP chase. I will address comments I often hear such as: “You can't teach EAP at low levels" or "You've got to teach general English/EFL first". This will involve trying to decide what EFL is, looking at how it fits in with EAP, discussing reasons why you might want to teach EFL and why you might not and finally examining some educational difficulties this might involve. My conclusions will draw on work by Bloor and Bloor (1986) and argue that EFL – whatever it is – is either part of EAP or wider than EAP is therefore irrelevant in itself to an EAP course.

Academic Orientation - Elizabeth Long – Room 2D3 This will be the discussion of a newly introduced course targeted towards the sometimes unmet academic needs of international students with low levels of English. It is designed to complement traditional academic writing and reading and syntax courses can be tailored towards a particular cohort, while emphasising becoming a “successful” student. The aims of the course are to enable students to: conduct studies effectively from day 1; become aware of themselves as academics; become autonomous learners; and understand requirements of University study. There will be some examples of skills and strategies covered in the course such as listening and note-taking in a variety of academic situations; proof-reading; participation in a variety of class activities; making use of London as a resource; exam techniques and etiquette; how to use workshops and library services; responding to feedback and drafting to improve; and written and oral presentation. I will also look at assessment and the perceived successes after one semester.

EFAP - Paving the way - Monica Andrews, Carl Ellis, Tim Francis and Grace MacMillan - Room 2D2 Low-level English language preparation for future academic purposes demands a different approach to standard EAP. Context is of high importance and although many basic language skills need to be developed, the reasons for learning need to be constantly borne in mind. In many ways it is about putting general language, notably language accuracy, into an academic framework. Whereas students near to achieving university entrance level will be motivated by most tasks, students at a lower level have a lower threshold, and are likely to need more nurturing but must not be patronised. Reasons for being at a low level need to be considered, i.e. aptitude, motivation, exposure etc. Is it possible to establish a few ‘rules of thumb’ to consider when planning such a course? Are there any techniques or teaching ideas which may help us in our delivery? In this workshop we will briefly present our experience of developing, and teaching low level EAP and introduce some of our ideas related to syllabus, materials and activities. Participants will then discuss how this compares to their experiences and aim to share some activities and/or rules of thumb that are useful at this level.

e-Boardwork: Simple yet Smart! - Hasan Shikoh – Room 1F5 Educational Technology - Learners with lower levels of English language proficiency find my use of “Google Docs” to be a simple yet smart method of electronically recording boardwork. Students have a permanent record of classwork and can retrieve reliable notes on any missed lessons. Teachers can distribute their e-notes to other classes, and use this tool for quick on-the-board revision and assessments. This presentation demonstrates how Google documents can be exploited to produce e-boardwork both inside and outside of class. It also shows how students and tutors can interact with one another on a lesson document without having to resort to the arrangement of appointments or the management of a plethora of multiple attachments.

How should, and how can, ‘low level EAP’ be assessed? - Bruce Howell – Room 1F12 A consequence of the recent growth of lower-level EAP students in the UK is the increasing importance of placing students on the appropriate pre-sessional or foundation programmes for the appropriate amount of time. Awareness of the issues involved and ability to advise potential students so that they can make the right decisions are vital. We need first to have a definition of what the ‘lower levels’ comprise, then devise a way of measuring them. If underlying language competence is more relevant at this early stage than application, and given practical restraints, perhaps we need a solution other than the well-known EAP approach of testing the four skills in an academic setting. Tentative suggestions will be made to answer the questions of how low-level EAP should be assessed (the ideal scenario) or how it can be assessed (practical solutions), and contributions from the audience will be very welcome. A 30 minute coffee break with poster presentations in the lobby will follow these sessions

NOTES:

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 2

12.00-12.40

What kind of EAP can we teach at A2 level? - Edward de Chazal – Room 2D1

This presentation recognizes that EAP is being taught at lower and lower levels worldwide. I address the question of what EAP to focus on: skills and language, including academic vocabulary and grammatical structures – crucially within a curriculum which develops critical thinking involving tasks such as synthesizing sources. EAP specifies the teaching and learning of English language for academic purposes, namely academic literacy, but does not indicate level. Other ESP teaching, e.g. business, takes place at pre-intermediate levels, while in the UK the teaching of academic literacy begins in primary school. In an A2 or pre-intermediate EAP classroom we can focus on A2 and B1+ receptive skills, tasks, and language. Some academic language is appropriate, including certain AWL words, and a shift towards ‘EAP’ grammar such as noun phrase patterns. ‘Serious’ topics and contexts can replace more general ones, while plenty of notional language and tasks are suitable. Crucially, there is scope for critical thinking, such as synthesizing and evaluating sources. If we teach EAP from A2, we will have the opportunity to influence – students, materials, curriculum, methodology – and can reduce jagged profiles and weaknesses such as phonology. I will offer examples of materials based on authentic texts appropriate for A2 level and we will consider wider implications for BALEAP and the industry.

Deep end tasks for low-level learners - Yolande Cerda and Simon Williams – Room 2D3 Providing challenging classroom activities for low-level learners in the form of deep end tasks leads to increased student participation, integration and motivation. The benefits are tangible and outweigh the risks. It is generally acknowledged that low-level EAP learners make faster progress with academic skills like referencing than with language fluency and accuracy. The response of teachers to this is often to focus on grammar and micro-skills, leading to a fall in classroom communicative activity and possible loss of motivation. However, revisiting deep-end strategies provides an alternative response that subverts the traditional PPP cycle by putting production first. Occasional opportunities to engage in so-called deep end tasks may empower learners by giving them the bigger picture, and offer useful diagnostic material for the teacher, so enabling subsequent tasks to be better targeted. But is there a substantive risk that such a strategy ‘reinforces fossilisation’ amongst the good communicators, as Johnson (1992) suggests? This talk outlines a set of deep-end activities used with low-level EAP learners and offers a linguistic cost-benefit analysis.

Case study – an in-sessional legal English course for Erasmus students – Stella Smyth – Room 2D2 Erasmus students studying a wide range of undergraduate law modules from the three year LLB degree programme at Leicester University may have lower levels of English than other overseas, law students. I share how my legal English course deals with issues, such as these Erasmus students’ mixed linguistic ability, mixed legal subject knowledge, and variable study skills and deal with the questions: - Does broadening a university legal English course, in order to meet the language and cultural needs of a wider range of Erasmus Law students, necessitate renegotiating the balance between hard and soft law? - Does it involve bridging teacher competences in EFL and legal English? - Does it mean matching authentic legal issues with relatively low level texts and flexible writing tasks? I also share my experience of designing a support legal English course for the Law Department’s mixed Erasmus students. By engaging with sample materials and classroom tasks, participants explore how academically sound legal topics can be pedagogically exploited within a circle of high and low communicative activities. These activities aim to accommodate students’ cognitive, emotional and writing requirements. They also seek to enhance their academic performance, especially when studying credit modules in subjects, such as Contract, Tort, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Human Rights, Family Law, and Employment Law.

Skills by Stealth: Introducing low-level EAP students to research skills and autonomy through projects – Sarah Clark- Room 1F5

Teaching low level EAP students poses many challenges, not least in the language, but also in terms of academic culture and expectations. This presentation addresses Project Based Learning as a non-threatening way to introduce academic skills. While ‘academic’ topics may seem overwhelming to low-level students, projects based on more familiar ‘non-academic’ topics (for example, Local Transport, Halloween, Weddings) can be employed in order to introduce basic research skills and autonomous learning.My research – towards an MA in ELT – explores projects used as an assessment with low-level students on a pre-university EAP programme at Nottingham Trent International College. The research first investigated Project Based Learning (PBL), before examining projects at the College through a questionnaire, tutor interviews and a personal teaching diary. This presentation will introduce PBL and this particular case study before discussing the findings and their implications. According to preliminary analysis, the findings indicate an increased awareness of skills.

A psychosocial perspective on ‘level’ – Jane Blackwell – Room 1F12 Following a psychosocial approach, (c.f. Bibby, 2011; Menzies Lyth, 1988), various institutional practices and systems, which could be described as ‘best practice’, can also be viewed as responses to certain anxieties. This description can provide a different perspective on how we think and talk about low levels. For example, underlying the notion of level is a belief that students can be classified into groups of relatively homogenous ability. In reality, we know that such a homogenous group would be impossible. However, if, for example, we are allocated the ‘lowest level’, we are reassured that we have some understanding of what this group might need. Following this, I suggest that a focus on level can lead to assumptions with problematic pedagogical implications. I will discuss some of these assumptions through reference to my own recent (and ongoing) experience of teaching the ‘lowest level’ in more than one context.

NOTES:

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 3

12.45-1.25

She stoops but doesn’t conquer: why straight EAP isn’t for lower level students – Ian Lebeau – Room 2D1

In recent years, there has been a move towards teaching EAP at lower levels. In this talk, we will first consider what - or who - is driving this. Is it publishers, looking to find gaps in the market? Is it university teachers who dislike teaching General English? Or are there sound pedagogical reasons? We will then argue that, because of its narrow focus, EAP should remain a higher level area, and that lower level students should continue with General English. However, if they want to progress to EAP courses at a later date, they cannot be expected to make a seamless transition from ‘lifestyle’ General English courses to ‘hardcore’ EAP. They need a broad base in General English, but one which also includes some EAP skills. Using examples from the Language Leader series, we will discuss material that aims to prepare lower level learners for later studies in EAP.

Which comes first – integration, participation, or motivation? – Kerry Tavakoli – Room 2D3 Teaching lower levels requires appropriate materials, which are difficult to find for EAP, and thus can be demotivating for both teacher and students. Motivation must come from another source, and is vital. Integration and participation can lead to motivation, but are also potentially the result. Motivation is the key to SLA, whatever level, and tends to increase with success and satisfaction. Low-level EAP students know they are well below the required level and many wonder if they can reach the level required for university study, and become despondent. Thus they are unlikely to integrate with the larger community. Teaching low-level EAP study skills may not motivate effectively, resulting in slow progress. A recent Master’s dissertation conducted by a Chinese student on the lack of integration of Chinese students found that the east-west cultural divide is the main factor; students cannot chat, have little background knowledge, and thus remain locked in the residence-classroom-Tesco triangle. This presentation outlines four types of activity, which have had reasonable success with students entering at 5.5, and which help promote the desire to integrate and significantly affect motivation, leading to livelier classes and better progress. These are activities in class time outside the classroom; extensive reading; student investigations of people, places and events assumed to be generally known, with student presentations; and beyond the classroom.

The AWL and lower levels: fit for purpose or fit for change? – Neil Harris – Room 2D2 Based on insights from the classroom, this session reviews the AWL and how it is used in published and in-house materials, with particular reference to lower levels. It considers if and how the AWL and associated materials can be made more accessible, including the potential innovation of a frequency-based lemmatised version of the current word family based list. The AWL is used extensively in in -and pre-sessional teaching to prepare learners, even at lower levels, for academic study. The AWL and published materials based on it often presuppose a control of word form which low-level students often lack. James Milton

identifies the presumption that AWL users “have the kind of knowledge of word formation to make them comparable with native speakers”, the very skill that low-level Chinese and the Arabic learners struggle with. This session reviews how the AWL was created using word families rather than lemmatisation and then looks critically at a range of materials, challenging their suitability for lower levels. It suggests that a revised, lemmatised list and materials created from it, including assessment tools, could help lower level learners to cope with the AWL better.

Open educational resources for lower level EAP learners – Alannah Fitzgerald – Room 1F5

This presentation will be of interest to teaching fellows working in Higher Education who are responsible for the design and development of learning and teaching resources for lower level learners of English for Academic Purposes. A subsequent and in-depth workshop for developing web-based open educational resources will be available at the upcoming BALEAP 2011 conference in Portsmouth. As a takeaway, participants will be provided with detailed resources and activities that can be freely adapted to fit a range of curricula for lower level learners of academic English. In addition, support resources and information pertaining to networks for continued exploration of OER use in higher education settings will be provided. Participants attending this workshop will leave with a clear understanding of not only the benefits for employing OER for language materials development in their specific educational contexts but also for how to encourage good OER practice among their colleagues at their home institutions.

Testing the Foundations – Simon Gooch & Marie Hanlon – Room 1F12 The session looks at how EAP reading and listening assessments might be adapted for use with lower level foundation students, while still retaining a focus on EAP skills (rather than general language skills). Students on the Loughborough University International Foundation Programme at Loughborough College were previously assessed in EAP reading and listening skills using tests prepared for higher level pre-sessional students. However, because of the lower entry language levels of the foundation students and the nature of their course, new tests were necessary. This session attempts to rationalise some of the changes we made in test design, the decisions we made as part of the process and gives a (very) basic analysis of a pilot test which indicates some possible ways forward for testing EAP reading and listening skills at lower levels of language proficiency.

NOTES:

KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2 2D3

2.30-3.15

EAP grammar for A2 students Terry Philips - co-author with Anna Phillips of the multi-level EAP course, Skills in English and series editor of the English for Specific Academic Purposes series for Garnet Education.

There is a growing realisation that EAP is not 'a quick fix' which sits on top of a thousand plus hours of general English. Rather, it is a genre choice, with implications for the kind of grammar to be learnt, as well as the skills and vocabulary. This choice can, and arguably should, be made early in a student's language learning so valuable time is not 'wasted' on general English. One UK publisher, at least, has begun to publish low level EAP materials. However, teachers using such texts do not find the familiar grammatical progression. As this PIM has seen before, grammatical complexity in EAP lies principally in the noun phrase, clause joining and embedding, not in the verb tense. In this session, the presenter looks at a grammar syllabus for EAP students at A2, including the need to target particular grammatical issues in particular skills, rather than treat them all as common core. It also considers whether teachers are deskilled in their ability to teach grammar when we move away from verb tense focus, and the extent to which the teachers' toolbox of grammatical presentation and practice instruments needs to be modified or extended to deal effectively with low level EAP grammar.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2 2D1

2.30-3.15

An exploration of teacher beliefs about teaching EAP at low proficiency levels. Olwyn Alexander - co-author of EAP Essentials and Access EAP: Foundations for Garnet Education, Teaching Fellow for EAP at Heriot Watt University and Chair of BALEAP.

EAP is a growth area of English Language Teaching with many teachers experienced in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) making the transition to EAP. However, the approach to teaching EAP, with its emphasis on subject-specific instructional materials informed by corpus and genre studies, can be very different to CLT. Teachers with considerable experience sometimes report feeling deskilled when they first move to teaching EAP, effectively reverting to the status of novices in relation to this specialist type of language teaching. New EAP teachers cite their main challenges as dealing with subject-specific materials, understanding what EAP involves and understanding and meeting students’ needs.4 They are often unaware that the criteria they normally apply to identify needs or judge whether a lesson or course is successful are not necessarily the same in EAP teaching. Teachers’ beliefs about what constitutes good language teaching can have considerable impact on their classroom practices,5 and those who transfer their beliefs uncritically from CLT to EAP contexts may create barriers to effective learning for their students. Although beliefs can change as a result of new teaching situations, for this change to happen it is important to uncover what the beliefs are and reflect on how appropriate they are for the new challenges. In this talk I will explore teacher beliefs about teaching EAP to learners with a low level of proficiency (A2/B1 on the Common European framework of Reference). This level is particularly appropriate for exploring beliefs about teaching EAP because there is already a widely held but mistaken assumption that learners must acquire a common core of language first before they are ready to study a special variety such as EAP.6 I will report the findings of a study of two CLT teachers piloting a new coursebook, Access EAP: Foundations, specifically designed for low level learners. Beliefs about teaching, elicited through weekly interviews with the two teachers, were compared to the beliefs about teaching EAP which informed the development of the coursebook and which are supported in recent literature. From this first study, a questionnaire was developed which could be used to support the induction of CLT teachers into EAP programmes.

4 Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer J. (2008) EAP Essentials: a teachers’ guide to principles and practice, pp 19 and 30 5 Borg, S. (2006) Teacher Cognition and Language Education: research and practice. London: Continuum.

6 Bloor, M. and Bloor, T. (1986) ‘Languages for Specific Purposes: practice and theory’. Centre for Language and Communication

Studies, Occasional Paper 19. Dublin: Trinity College.

NOTES:

CONCURRENT SESSIONS 4

3.20 – 3.40

Using on-line discussion forums to motivate low-level learners– Maxine Gillway & Claire Brett – Room 2D1 This session aims to swap ideas for use of technology as a motivating factor for low level students. Evidence will be presented from a low level EAP course (IELTS 4.5) on how the use of electronic discussion boards increased both the quantity and quality of contributions to subsequent live seminars. We will also touch upon some of the pitfalls. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences on using technology with low level learners.

Communicating EAP concepts through materials design – Debbie Mann – Room 2D3 This presentation will look at the way in which materials can be designed to guide, support, equip and enable low level EAP learners to achieve what initially may appear the impossible! A key difficulty in particular with EAP learners of IELTS 3.5-4.5 is being able to communicate academic concepts such as plagiarism. Such difficulties can be overcome through the creative design of materials.

Pre-Masters Diplomas: Successfully bridging the gap? – Louise Pullen & Phil Horspool – Room 2D2 Universities are increasingly providing Pre-Masters Diplomas as an alternative and addition to pre-sessional programmes for students who do not meet the entrance requirements for Masters’ courses. With so many universities offering such a variety of courses, it seems useful to discuss key issues and to share success stories. This swapshop intends to explore what Pre-Master models currently exist in UK universities; how they are structured to take into account student language and academic needs; how they are viewed by participating departments and universities; how they are experienced by students; and finally, what we can do as providers and teachers to ensure these courses successfully bridge the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Renovating the pre-sessional EAP curriculum: the challenges of moving from an EGAP to ESAP approach - Christopher Macallister – Room 1F5

This session considers how the challenge presented by “a wave of lower learners” who lack sufficient linguistic proficiency, can be addressed through a ‘renovation’ of the pre-sessional EAP curriculum. It will argue for a shift away from English for general academic purposes, and towards an English for specialist academic purposes approach. It will first look at why a move toward ESAP at the pre-sessional stage is the answer to the challenge of lower level learners. It will argue that an increasingly specific approach to the curriculum will allow EAP to draw on the core values of its ‘parent’ discipline ESP: a strong goal orientation combined with a focus on efficiency. It will be suggested that this can avoid the need to hold learners in general English classes which can be de-motivating for students, and which many sponsors are reluctant to pay for. The presentation will then consider the consequences of an increasingly specialist pre-sessional EAP curriculum for: course planning and materials selection, teacher recruitment and induction, and streaming the pre-sessional intake.

Using ‘bite-size’ chunks to teach academic essay skills to low level learners - Carolyn Westbrook – Room 1F12 This swapshop looks at assessment techniques on a pre-sessional/foundation year EAP unit and how this has been redesigned to assist lower level learners. It will analyse the benefits and pitfalls of a foundation/pre-sessional level (IELTS 4.5 or less) EAP unit aimed at teaching students the academic skills required to write an academic essay. The unit originally required students to write a 1500-word essay on a topic given by the tutor but the unit has been re-written to include a number of “bite-size” chunks to help students on the way to writing academic essays instead. The paper will analyse what appears to work well with low-level learners and what seems difficult to achieve with the low-level learners we are being asked to teach nowadays. The speaker will give some suggestions as to how to avoid some of the pitfalls but also welcomes comments from the audience regarding how the unit can be improved further.

NOTES:

CONCURRENT SESSION 5 3.45-4.05

Motivating low levels with e-portfolios– Maxine Gillway & Claire Brett – Room 2D1 This session aims to swap ideas for use of technology as a motivating factor for low level students. Evidence will be presented from a low level EAP course (IELTS 4.5) on how the transfer from paper to e-portfolios improved time management and reflection on learning. We will also touch upon some of the pitfalls. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences on using technology with low level learners.

Designing and developing a writing course for low level believers and achievers! (IELTS 3.5-4.5) – Debbie Mann – Room 2D3

This presentation will consider how a syllabus can be most effectively designed to aid both general and academic writing skills for learners (IELTS 3.5-4.5) who are preparing for academic study either as an undergraduate or as a postgraduate student. It will specifically address the necessary components and provide a rationale for these, together with underpinning, discrete items to support the learner on this writing journey. Further considerations will be given to the type of assessment which would complement the learning process in accordance with the syllabus design. The syllabus would be based upon a ten-week course to include a summative form of assessment. Insight into how the syllabus could then be developed for the following ten weeks, in order to demonstrate progression, would then be acknowledged.

Creating a multi-level pre-sessional programme: does one size really fit all? - Helen Connies-Laing – Room 2D2 Tasked with creating a new-look pre-sessional programme that would increase students’ level by one IELTS band (or equivalent), I designed a three-strand ten- week programme in which each strand’s themes and assessment types were identical but levels of linguistic complexity and assessment expectations varied. The three streams are pre-Masters (5.5 to go up to 6.5), pre-Bachelors (5.0 to go to 6.0) and pre-Foundation (4.0 to go to 5.0). The rationale behind maintaining similar themes across strands is that some sessions are shared (cost awareness!) and assessments are marked by teachers of each strand in the spirit of fairness and consistency. Crucially, the approach affords lower-level learners the scope for working on ‘remedial’ areas of language otherwise found on general EFL courses, without compromising their exposure to ‘university level’ concepts and EAP instruction. Regarding student experience, the shared themes seem to foster a sense of legitimacy, especially among the lower-level learners.

Using Jing with low-level reading classes – Sarah Brewer – Room 1F5

Low level learners on EAP courses experience not only the normal difficulties of language learning but also find it difficult to envisage the extent to which they need to improve in order to achieve the levels required to enter a university course. One problem they have in reading is improving their speed, particularly if they have fallen into the habit of articulating the words as they read. They also find it difficult to read sufficiently extensively outside class partly because they fail to see the enormous importance of developing good reading skills. In an effort to encourage improvement in these two areas, I used Jing to vary more conventional methods. Jing enables the user to make 5 minute video recordings which capture whatever is on the computer screen (internet pages, words documents, etc) and records a voiceover.

Low level learners on academic writing programmes often quickly become demotivated as they face the challenges of improving different aspects of their writing. They have to cope with many demands when writing such as accuracy in spelling and grammar, organisation of ideas and use of new vocabulary. Because of this, they lose their ability to express their voice and writing becomes dull and monotonous both for them and their teacher. The writing team in the International Language and Study Centre at Reading used learner journals with their writing classes over one term as a way to provide students with the means to express themselves in written English in a non-threatening way. Students wrote daily in their journals which were collected by teachers on a weekly basis. Interviews with students and teachers at the end of the term provided interesting feedback on attitudes to journals and levels of progress made. A 25 minute tea break with poster presentations in the lobby will follow these sessions

Learner journals: a tool for developing fluency and voice in writing - Deborah Anne Murphy – Room 1F12

NOTES:

CLOSING SESSION 4.30-5.00

Round-up session: A chance to reflect on the day’s insights, issues and innovations – Room 2D1

How often have you been to a conference and not quite got around to making that comment during a session or asking that question that you have since forgotten or talking to that person that you have never come across again? We then go back to the daily grind and all our good intentions from a stimulating conference are quickly washed away. Well, this is our attempt to remedy that! During the course of the day you will have the opportunity to post up thoughts and questions in response to sessions that you attend. At the end of the day, you will have the opportunity to discuss these comments/questions, swap relevant experiences from your EAP settings and generally consolidate your thoughts from the day.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

University of Leeds’ Academic English Pathway - Mick Parkin, Bee Bond, Clare Poulson & Jess Poole - Lobby

Theory, Reasons and Principles

This poster will illustrate the University of Leeds’ Academic English Pathway Programme – a course for pre-Foundation/pre-undergraduate students. The course is a 32 week pre-sessional course with three entry points. In this poster, the theoretical under-pinning of the course will be discussed, along with the reasons why the course was set up and the principles on which it has developed. We will explain the importance of group projects to the course and demonstrate how this approach is beneficial to all participants.

University of Leeds’ Academic English Pathway - Mick Parkin, Bee Bond, Clare Poulson & Jess Poole - Lobby

Authentic Materials This second poster will offer practical examples of how authentic materials are used and adapted to provide stimulating but challenging lessons/input. We will also use case studies to illustrate the progress of students who typically start the course with IELTS 3 - 4 and “graduate” with 5.5 – 6.5.