About the webinar

Presented by Trinity College London academic experts, the series is aimed at English language teachers looking to continue their professional development, particularly those preparing learners for ISE or GESE. This webinar was the sixth in series and focussed on teaching English for Academic Purposes. During the webinar, Rachael Clarke and and FoELT 2019 presenter Tom Garside played and discussed an interview with presenter FoELT Tony Prince and an extract from Lynda Taylor's plenary. Watch the introduction to the webinar below. 

 

 

The EAQUALS Language for Academic Purposes Framework.

Tony's talked at FoELT about a framework produced by EAQUALS for those in tertiary education. The aim of the framework is to offer an indication of the knowledge and skills that may be useful for teachers in an EAP context. Find out more about his presentation by watching his interview below. 

Rachael and Tom discussed the benefits of using frameworks, touching upon both the EAQUALS and BALEAP ones. They agreed that using them helps learners measure their progress, encouraging them to set goals and reflect upon their own competencies. Teachers also benefit hugely from using a framework as it helps them plan their own development, promoting CPD and providing a reference point for good practice across the board. Find out more about the BALEAP Can do Framework by clicking on the image below. 

baleap

They also agreed that contextualisation is essential in EAP given the differing perceptions about the nature of learning which are often found in this context, e.g. knowledge-based vs skills based. 
There was also a lot of discussion about collaboration in the EAP environment, covering a wide range of types of collaboration, ranging from collaboration between language and subject tutors to 
between pre/in-sessional and graduate departments. Click below to download Tony's FoELT 2019 presentation on the EAQUALS framework.

Recognition Form

 

Join our Facebook group

If you want to talk more about about anything that came up in the webinar, or would like to share relevant resources and ideas, join over 500 English teachers from around the world in our Transformative Teachers Facebook group. 

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Is EAP fit for purpose? 

In her FoELT plenary session, Lynda Taylor explored three different approaches to defining academic literacy skills and considered the challenges of sampling and measuring these through language assessment tools. 

 

You can find out more by downloading her presentation below. 

Download PPT slides

Tom and Rachael talked about the burden of expectation that teachers and learners carry, and the complications this can contribute to in the classroom. They asked if we're expecting too much of the tests we're using and whether the time has come to reevaluate what we're testing and how we're testing it. 

There was a lot of discussion about the benefits of Trinity's Integrated Skills in English (ISE), including: 

  • The fact that digital genres are included, ensuring digital literacies are included. 
  • That it assesses communicative and socio-cognitive competencies, which means it meets the needs of the learners as they progress. 
  • The tasks reflect real-life tasks in an academic context, such as listening and taking notes or synthesising information in multiple texts. 

Find out more about ISE here

Sign up for the next webinar on 18/12/19 at 16:00 UK time