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Essential language skills in EAP
Mgr. Martina Malášková, Ph. D.
malaskom@gmail.com
Introduce yourself, please
Tell us about yourself:
Who are you?
What do you do?
Why did you come here?
What else should we know about you?
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What can you expect?
We are going to talk about:
● English for Academic Purposes - what’s your context?
● identifying your needs
● identifying your strong and less strong points
● study skills and language skills in academic settings
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English for Academic Purposes
What is English for Academic Purposes?
‘EAP is concerned with those communication skills in English which are
required for study purposes in formal education systems’ (ETIC 1975 in R.
R. Jordan 1997).
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English for Academic Purposes
“[EAP] means grounding instruction in an understanding of the cognitive,
social, and linguistic demands of specific academic disciplines. This takes
practitioners beyond preparing learners for study in English to
developing new kinds of literacy: equipping students with the
communicative skills to participate in particular academic and cultural
contexts.”
(Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002)
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Practical implications
● EAP takes place in a variety of different contexts (fully Englishspeaking
countries, countries with ESL and EFL) => different
knowledge of English, different needs
● taught by different teachers (NS, NNs)
● for students (pre-sessional or in-sessional) or for academic staff
● full-time, part-time, distance-learning, online
● for general academic purposes (EGAP) or specific academic purposes
(ESAP)
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What’s your context?
Task 1
In pairs - talk to your partner. Consider the information on the previous
slide. What is the situation at your workplace?
Step 1 - Exchange information. Listen carefully to your partner, take
notes if necessary.
Step 2 - Share the information you learnt from your partner with the
class.
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Language skills
LANGUAGE SKILLS
RECEPTIVE
Listening
PRODUCTIVE
Speaking
Reading Writing
speech-
based
text-
based
Adapted from Jordan (1997)
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Study skills
STUDY SKILLS
RECEPTIVE
Listening
listening for gist vs specific ideas
fact vs opinion
idea vs example etc.
Note-taking
PRODUCTIVE
Speaking
- production - presenting a contribution at a
conference (introduce, conclude, define,
exemplify, compare, summarize, paraphrase etc.)
- interaction - participate in discussions (ask, agree,
disagree, interrupt, apologise, etc.)
Reading
intensive/skimming/scanning
reading for gist vs specific ideas
relationship between ideas
fact vs opinion
idea vs example etc.
Note-taking
Writing
(other than note-taking)
- general (introduce, conclude, summarize,
paraphrase, etc.)
- specific academic concepts/functions (describe,
define, exemplify, classify, hypothesise, express
caution, etc.)
Adapted from Jordan (1997)
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What are your needs? ctnd.
Task 2
In pairs - Discuss the questions on the handout. Are your answers/opinions
similar or very different?
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What are your needs? ctnd.
Task 3
In groups - play the card game.
Take a card from the pile. Say if you need to use this language function (written or
spoken) in your job.
If possible, give a specific example.
Example: Giving instructions - Yes, I tell my colleagues how to fill in reports.
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References
Hyland, K. & Hamp-Lyons, L. 2002. EAP: issues and directions. Journal of English for
Academic Purposes, 1(1), 1-12.
Jordan, R. R. 1997. English for Academic Purposes. A guide and resource book for teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ward Goodbody, M. 1993. Letting the students choose: a placement procedure for a presessional
course. In G. M. Blue (Ed.) Language, learning and success: Studying Through
English. Developments in ELT. Hemel Hempstead: Phoenix ELT.
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Thank you for your attention!
Exit ticket?