Our Expertise
BALEAP has commissioned and collaborated on a range of research projects resulting in the following outputs.
We also support our membership in their research into a wide range of issues relevant to EAP and Higher Education through funding, and dissemination.
Coming Soon: Best Practice Guide
BALEAP BUILA joint research project
BALEAP and BUILA are leading on an English Language Project on behalf of the sector, to understand the following:
- How universities currently use discretionary self-assessment including Pre-Sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP), International Foundation or other pathway provision as well as in-house testing to allow students to demonstrate English language proficiency.
- How universities quality assure, approve and verify different English language tests and qualifications to demonstrate an international student’s level of English language proficiency.
- The types of qualifications and tests international students use to gain admission to UK universities and why students choose to use these tests and qualifications
- How universities help students develop their English for Academic Purposes skills throughout their time at university.
Phase 2 will deliver a 'Best Practice Guide' for universities to consider in ensuring robust practice in the following areas
- Making informed and reliable decisions on which tests to accept for entry.
- Providing quality-assured and pedagogically principled pathway learning and assessment to allow students to demonstrate English language proficiency.
- Providing principled and contextually appropriate in-sessional support.
The Guide will include a range of options taking into account the diverse nature of the international student sponsors and will be informed by the student voice.
The Guide should also signpost help and external organisations and enable the sponsor to reflect on success against a set of sector benchmarks.
Testing Guidelines
The purpose of the BALEAP Guidelines on English Language Tests for University Entry is to give stakeholders a richer description of English language tests in a format that facilitates comparison between them. Our aim is to assist staff responsible for reviewing and selecting the tests used by their institutions and setting the related scores/grades. It also aims to assist in the day to day interpretations of scores on the qualifications concerned.
TEAP competency framework
The Competency Framework was incorporated into the TEAP Portfolio scheme handbook in 2014. This handbook has now been revised to align the TEAP accreditation scheme more closely to the Advance HE (formerly HEA) led UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF).
BALEAP Can Do Framework
BALEAP has carried out research into the competencies required by students studying in UK universities at Master’s level. The results of this research are available as the BALEAP Can Do Framework.
"The BALEAP Journal of Research and Practice" was launched at the 2025 Biennial Conference.
The journal's ethos is to become the home to work related to research and practice within EAP. The journal aims to encourage the community to submit work of any genre which challenges and drives the field forward. We will also be home to future BALEAP conference proceedings.
The journal is open access and creative commons, trying to ensure that the work is as accessible as possible to ensure wider impact on and (trans)formation of the field.
Narratives of Innovation & Resilience
BALEAP commissioned and collated 8 case studies after the initial phase of the 2020 pandemic. In the eight narratives included in this collection, colleagues from different UK universities generously share their experience of developing context-appropriate solutions in the early stages of the 2020 pandemic. They reflect on what they learnt from the experience and on what they themselves and others can take forward into future practice.
The impact of Covid-19 on the UK EAP sector
In order to better understand the relative challenges and opportunities that resulted for key stakeholders in UK EAP provision during March to September 2020, BALEAP commissioned this report which provides the results of research conducted. We hope that this report will be seen as testament to the incredible resilience and community spirit shown and that it will prove useful as decisions are made about the future of UK EAP provision in the post Covid-19 era.
EAP Research Journeys
Snapshots of EAP Research Journeys is a collection of narratives of personal resourcefulness. Each contributor, either a presenter or a non-presenting participant at one of BALEAP‟s research training (ResTES) events, has shared a personal reflection on a research project in which they have been involved. Snapshots captures the journey hidden behind formal, structured accounts of EAP research for the benefit of a wider audience of EAP professionals who are considering embarking on a research journey.
Access to Literature
The importance of engaging with literature and having an evidence or knowledge base for EAP practice and pedagogy are essential elements of BALEAP's TEAP and BAS accreditation schemes. While what to read may be contested, there is general agreement that reading literature plays an important role in the development of the EAP practitioner and EAP provision. It is this access to literature and corpus research that has facilitated the move towards a more confident EAP that is grounded in a more secure and evidence-based understanding of disciplinary rhetoric and communicative behaviours. However, the question needs to be raised as to how accessible literature is for those working in the field of EAP in a global context. In 2023, BALEAP funded a collaborative research study to investigate and explore this matter further as an EAP community.