2. Pathways to TEAP Accreditation

EAP course design is a high stakes activity usually carried out by senior members of the EAP team, who can interact with staff in their institution to establish the expectations of the academic community that EAP students wish to join. This target needs analysis supports the development of a ‘defensible syllabus’ for the course (Brown, 2016), one that can be justified to stakeholders such as students, sponsors, admissions staff and EAP teachers. The senior EAP team members will have an understanding of theories of academic language and discipline-specific literacy together with knowledge of the variety of professional attributes (Laurillard, 2012) that students are expected to develop during their degree studies. They will also understand different approaches to structuring curricula and syllabuses in order to create a public document that ‘reflects a philosophy of teaching, including beliefs about language and learning’ (Hyland, 2006, p. 282).

A syllabus has to operate within constraints such as the amount of time available, in weekly timetables and throughout the academic year, or whether students can study in single-discipline or mixed-discipline groups. It should be based on three overarching principles: clear progression towards overall course goals; built in explicit recycling of content; and the potential for transfer across a range of contexts (Alexander et al., 2018). The most efficient syllabus is one that is embedded within a specific discipline or context to study the genres and tasks used to exchange ideas and build knowledge in the field. This type of syllabus has the highest potential for transfer of learning to degree studies.

However, it is not always possible to teach EAP within single disciplines so mixed-discipline classes are more common. These can still be built around common academic genres and tasks but require a more generic approach to language in text. Thus rhetorical functions and paragraph cohesion tend to be organising principles of the syllabus. An element of subject-specificity can be built in by requiring students to work with concepts and texts from their disciplines. Decisions also need to be made about which syllabus components should be taught as individual lessons while others such as autonomy and critical thinking are better integrated through teaching methodology.

Although EAP teachers may have little input to course and syllabus design, they do need to understand the design principles in order to enact the syllabus components appropriately in their classrooms. Teachers need to be able to identify which activities and tasks are most important for delivering the learning outcomes in any lesson so as to make the most efficient use of time. Teachers should be able to justify to students why they are doing a task, how it fits into the syllabus, how it relates to the assessments and how it will help students achieve their future academic goals.

References

Alexander, O., Argent, S. & Spencer, J. (2018). EAP Essentials: a teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Reading: Garent Education.

Brown, J.D. (2016) Introducing needs analysis and English for specific purposes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Hyland, Ken (2006). English for Academic Purposes: an advanced resource book. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a Design Science: Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology. New York and London: Routledge.

Teaching English for Academic Purposes (TEAP) involves enhancing learners’ ability to communicate through the medium of English in specific academic and cultural contexts with a focus on ‘the texts (spoken and written) that occur in academic contexts… [together with] the discourses and practices that surround and give rise to such texts’ (Bruce 2011, p. 6). This requires an understanding of genres as ‘staged goal-oriented social processes’ (Martin & Rose, 2007), which academic communities of practice have developed to exchange ideas and build knowledge in their fields. Nesi and Gardner (2012) outline 13 genre families found in their corpus of student writing, but genres arise and evolve constantly to suit changing academic practices. TEAP also involves working with typical tasks that students might be required to perform in their studies, e.g. writing a literature review or presenting a poster. Teaching and learning is, thus, inherently genre-based, and task-based.

The teaching and learning cycle involves a series of analytical tasks to orient students to the audience and purpose of genres in their discipline. Examples of the genre are deconstructed to see how they are staged, i.e., organized, to achieve the purpose for the audience and then modelled by the teacher and jointly constructed with students using guided tasks. The students then have a task prompt to produce their own (spoken or written) text and receive peer feedback, itself a routine academic activity. This cycle is repeated for a variety of genres and helps students to become independent researchers of the practices in the academic community they wish to join.

Discovery learning, where students uncover the features of texts and the requirements of tasks for themselves, is an important aspect of TEAP. However, the teacher must connect task outcomes explicitly to the learning outcomes to highlight what the students have achieved more generally, and how this learning might transfer to new academic contexts such as degree studies. The role of the teacher is to scaffold learning through collaborative dialogue (Laurillard, 2012), encouraging deeper understanding through critical questioning. This arguably involves adopting the role of ‘meddler-in-the-middle’ with a ‘disposition to be usefully ignorant’ (McWilliam, 2008, p. 265). This approach recognizes that teacher and student share knowledge: the student understands the content of their discipline while the teacher understands theories of language in text that will enable successful communication.

It is important to recognize that EAP students are time-poor. They must reach their target proficiency in a short space of time so all classroom activities must add value as efficiently as possible. Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) can provide opportunities for out-of-class practice so that time in class can be maximally relevant to meeting students’ needs.

References

Bruce, I. (2011). Theory and concepts of English for academic purposes. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. New York and London: Routledge.

Martin, J. & Rose, D. (2007). Working with discourse. London: Continuum.

McWilliam, E. (2008). Unlearning how to teach. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 45(3), 263269.

Nesi, H.& Gardner, S. (2012). Genres across the disciplines: Student writing in higher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assessment has long influenced everything that goes on in the classroom, whether explicitly or not. The traditional view of assessment concerned summative judgements of achievement or proficiency using instruments designed by a skilled few that left teachers discussing the washback on classroom practice from a test that was often outside of their control. The concern was a narrowing of the curriculum as teachers succumbed to student pressure to ‘teach to the test.’ However, a well-designed summative assessment can of course involve opportunities for formative assessment processes and opportunities for deep learning.

The 21st Century has seen a move to outcomes-based pedagogy (e.g. SOLO taxonomy) with assessment and feedback being seen as pivotal to a constructively aligned curriculum (Biggs,  2014) rather than as a postscript to teaching and learning. Today assessment for learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998) is seen as part of pedagogy with teachers using a range of Classroom Assessment Techniques (Angelo & Cross, 1993) to identify students’ emerging needs and adjusting classroom activities in response to them. There is now a much wider range of assessment techniques, often with more transparent criteria and a greater involvement of students in assessment as learning (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). The teacher is no longer seen purely as a feedback giver, but more as a designer of feedback opportunities. The students develop feedback literacy, autonomy and reflexivity and learn through more authentic assessment tasks with a focus on metacognition, self-efficacy, and self-regulation.

Assessment and feedback literacy is a requirement for both students and teachers. Not all practitioners are in a position to be part of the teams who write test specifications, and design summative assessments of learning and their scoring models; nor do they all have the opportunity to lead moderation or standardisation sessions for markers or engage with admissions regarding the use of tests scores in recruitment. However, all are in a position to get involved with the learning-oriented assessment and feedback that takes place as part of assessment for and as (and sometimes of) learning. Responsive teaching is now seen as part of the reflexive practice of the practitioner. Just as students must respond to feedback for learning, teachers must use assessment data (both formative and summative) to take action for teaching.

References:

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. California: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Biggs, J. (2014). Constructive alignment in university teaching. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 1, 5-22.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. London: Grenada Learning.

Nicol, D.J., & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education 31(2), 199–218.

The original TEAP Competency Framework specified core competencies for EAP practitioners at Masters level:

[…] where practitioners are expected to demonstrate a systematic understanding of the main theoretical areas of a discipline and critical awareness of current issues and problems. They should be able to exercise independent initiative to make complex decisions, plan tasks or deal with problems in the absence of complete or consistent information. They should show a commitment to continue to develop professionally (BALEAP, 2008).¹

There is an expectation that an EAP practitioner will ‘recognize the importance of applying to his or her own practice the standards expected of students and other academic staff (BALEAP, 2008). This means finding time to keep up with developments in the EAP field and related fields such as education or applied linguistics in order to understand how the knowledge base of EAP is expanding. An academic teaching subjects such as thermodynamics or logistics regularly incorporates new research into their teaching and guides masters level students to apply research findings in practice and to recognise gaps in the research field that they can address. While EAP practitioners may not have allowance in their workloads for primary research, they are expected to engage in scholarship to become aware of new developments in discourse processing and its implications for academic literacy, as well as the research and teaching practices of the disciplines their students will study. EAP practitioners should also aim to contribute to the development of the field through their own scholarship.

BALEAP Professional Issues Meetings (PIMs) and the biennial conference can provide insights into the latest research and developments in EAP. The introduction of Special Interests Groups (SIGs) has also greatly facilitated sharing knowledge. Searchable databases such as Researchgate.net and Academia.edu are places where academic researchers share their latest publications. It can also be useful to identify key researchers in a field and follow them on X or LinkedIn. BALEAP as an organisation is working to actively encourage institutions to ensure that EAP practitioners are allocated the time and resources to enable them to engage in scholarship.

In addition to exploring the knowledge base of EAP, practitioners need to refresh their teaching approach and skills, recognising that they need to do more than simply facilitate language and study skills practice. EAP teachers can use collaborative observation of their teaching by peers or more senior colleagues to reflect on their strengths and identify new approaches.

¹ More detailed specification of master’s level is available online at the QAA and SCQF websites.

References

BALEAP (2008). Competency framework for teachers of English for academic purposes. https://www.baleap.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/04/teap-competency-framework.pdf

McWilliam, E.L. (2009). Teaching for creativity: From sage to guide to meddler. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(3). 281-293.

QAA Framework for higher education qualifications in England and Wales (2001) Subject Benchmark Statement: Education Studies (qaa.ac.uk) retrieved 14.04.22

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework scqf-level-descriptors-web-july-2019.pdf retrieved 14.04.22

Task: Provide a coherent and reflective account of 1500 words justifying the following claim:

‘I have reached a level of professional development and effectiveness to be able to apply, with a degree of support, the professional values and knowledge to competently plan and deliver effective EAP teaching, assessment and feedback’

The following themes and values must be threaded throughout your written account:

Professionalism
V1: You are committed to evidence-based practice within your professional context.

Development
V2: You value research, scholarship, and selective use of resources (such as technology) to enhance developmental activities.

Collaboration
V3: You value collaboration for learning and professional practice.

Inclusivity
V4: You respect individual learners’ expectations and values, encourage participation in higher education, and promote equality of opportunity.

Your reflective account will also demonstrate how you meet all of the knowledge and activity criteria.

Associate fellow pathway criteria PDF (3 KB)

Your reflective account must include one case study which demonstrates your professional impact and effectiveness across a range of the knowledge and activity criteria.

The claims of competence in your reflective account must be supported with a portfolio of evidence, which must specifically include:

• At least 2 recent records of observation (one or both of which have been conducted by a BALEAP TEAP Observer).
• 2 reference statements from a line manager, senior colleague or BALEAP Mentor/Assessor verifying the accuracy of the contents of your submission.

Task: Provide a coherent and reflective account of 3000-3500 words justifying the following claim:

‘I am able to apply, with a high level of autonomy and achievement, a range of professional values and knowledge to effectively plan and deliver high quality EAP provision whilst engaging in professional development and scholarship to inform my own practice and that of colleagues.’

The following themes and values must be threaded throughout your written account:

Professionalism
V1: You are committed to evidence-based practice within your professional context.

Development
V2: You value research, scholarship, and selective use of resources (such as technology) to enhance developmental activities.

Collaboration
V3: You value collaboration for learning and professional practice.

Inclusivity
V4: You respect individual learners’ expectations and values, encourage participation in higher education, and promote equality of opportunity.

Your reflective account must demonstrate how you meet all the knowledge and activity criteria.

Fellow pathway criteria PDF (3 KB)

Your reflective account must include one case study which demonstrates your professional impact and effectiveness across a range of the knowledge and activity criteria.

The claims of competence in your reflective account must be supported with a portfolio of evidence, which must specifically include:

• At least 2 recent records of observation (one or both of which have been conducted by a BALEAP TEAP Observer).
• 2 reference statements from a line manager, senior colleague or BALEAP Mentor/Assessor verifying the accuracy of the contents of your submission.

Task: Provide a coherent and reflective account of 6000-6500 words justifying the following claim:

‘I am able to apply a wide range of professional values and knowledge, to design and lead the delivery of effective EAP provision with significant impact on the practice and professional development of others within and beyond my institution.’

The following themes and values must be threaded throughout your written account:

Professionalism
V1: You are committed to evidence-based practice within your professional context.

Development
V2: You value research, scholarship, and selective use of resources (such as technology) to enhance developmental activities.

Collaboration
V3: You value collaboration for learning and professional practice.

Inclusivity
V4: You respect individual learners’ expectations and values, encourage participation in higher education, and promote equality of opportunity.

Your reflective account must demonstrate how you meet all the knowledge and activity criteria.

Senior fellow pathway criteria PDF (3 KB)

Your reflective account must include two case studies which demonstrate your professional impact and effectiveness across a range of the knowledge and activity criteria. At least one of these case studies must involve your academic leadership.

The claims of competence in your reflective account must be supported with a portfolio of evidence, which must specifically include:

• At least 2 recent records of observations (one or both of which have been conducted by a BALEAP TEAP Observer).
• 2 reference statements from a line manager, senior colleagues or BALEAP TEAP Mentor/Assessor verifying the accuracy of the contents of your submission.

A TEAP mentor guides others in their continuing professional development, evaluates competencies and verifies portfolio evidence. A TEAP assessor evaluates EAP training & development provision for BALEAP recognized learning award purposes and assesses portfolio-based evidence for BALEAP practitioner accreditation purposes.

TASK: Provide a short personal claim of competence alongside your RAPP, outlining how you meet the descriptors below for either Fellow or Senior Mentor/Assessor.

Fellow Mentor (for Fellow candidates)

Knowledge

• M1: You articulate theories and approaches to teacher education.
• M2: You cite principles of best practice in observations and feedback.
• M3: You demonstrate knowledge of professional standards in the sector.

Activities

• M4: You mentor or guide colleagues for CPD purposes.
• M5: You undertake observations or provide feedback for colleagues' professional development.
• M6: You deliver professional education, training, or developmental activities.

Mentor/Assessor (for Senior Fellow candidates)

Knowledge

• M1: You articulate theories and approaches to teacher education.
• M2: You cite principles of best practice in observations and feedback.
• M3: You demonstrate knowledge of professional standards in the sector.

Activities

• M4: You mentor or guide colleagues for CPD purposes.
• M5: You undertake observations and provide feedback for colleagues' professional development.
• M6: You deliver professional education, training, or developmental activities.
• M7: You engage in portfolio-based mentoring, verification, and assessment for professional purposes.