EAP conference at the University of St Andrews
The International Education Institute (IE) has held events for teaching professionals for more than a decade. The EAP conference is recognised by English for Academic Purposes (EAP) professionals from all over the world as a go-to event for sharing ideas and best practice.
Assessment - an opportunity for change
St Andrews Annual EAP Conference 2024
Date: Saturday 10 February 2024
EAP Conference Programme 2024 (PDF)
Plenary Speaker: Dr Anthony Manning
Practical Approaches to Innovation in Assessment in constructively aligned EAP.
Exploring innovative and creative assessment in a changing climate. How can we respond creatively as practitioners, in this period of technological change and at a time when there is greater scope for online assessment? How can new innovations in assessment fit into constructively aligned curricula?
Areas might include:
- A variety of assessment task types and formats
- Discipline specific assessment tasks
- Technology mediated assessment
- Maximising potential opportunities for assessment transformation
- Impact of assessment reform on teaching and learning
Venue
School of Medicine
University of St Andrews
Medical and Biological Sciences building
North Haugh
St Andrews
KY16 9TF
Conference archive
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Towards transcultural pedagogy: dynamics in global EAP
The internationalisation of higher education has led to EAP practitioners playing an increasingly important role in working across cultures, with both teachers and learners coming from a wide range of language and educational backgrounds. As well as thinking about how we function inter-culturally, we increasingly consider concepts such as transcultural, translanguaging and transformative teaching and learning. The 2023 conference focused on the impact such internationalisation has on EAP and the need to develop a pedagogy to reflect the changes.
Plenary speakers
There were two plenary speakers:
- Dr Doris Dippold, University of Surrey.
- Dr Jim McKinley, University College London.
More information can be found in the EAP conference programme (PDF)
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Reflect and review: the cumulative nature of learning and teaching
Our 2022 conference focused on the non-linear character of learning and the value of reflecting on practice as both teachers and learners. Reflection is increasingly integrated into teacher education programmes and is considered an essential part of the learning process for our students. The topic of reflection is clearly open to a number of interpretations, and this added to the richness of a day spent exploring it with colleagues from around the world in a variety of contexts.
Speakers
There were three plenary speakers, with the following presentations:
Dr Melinda Whong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The role of reflection in the transition from practitioner to scholar-practitionerDr Maxine Gillway, University of Bristol
Collaborative Reflection on Principled PracticeDr Zak Lancaster, Wake Forest University, North Carolina
A Language for Reflecting: Building Subject Specialists’ Metalanguage for Reflecting on Student Writing in the Disciplines -
Transitions and Tribulations: EAP at the crossroads
With a theme of transitions and four plenary speakers from previous events, the EAP conference at the University of St Andrews celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2021. The conference provided many interesting insights to current directions in EAP practice, resulting from empirical research, as increasingly EAP practitioners have opportunities to carry out research while remaining active in the classroom.
The plenary speakers were:
- Diane Schmitt, Nottingham Trent University (retired)
- Professor Steve Kirk, Durham University
- Professor Hilary Nesi, Coventry University
- Dr Nigel Caplan, University of Delaware
See the 2021 programme (PDF) to read all abstracts.
Plenary talks
Dr Nigel Caplan
First, Second, Finally? The Murky Transitions to Academic Language in L2 Writing (PDF)Diane Schmitt
The challenge of learning and using vocabulary at university (PowerPoint)Presentations
Cathy Benson and Cathy Holden
International post-graduates’ classroom participation (PowerPoint)Rina Fokel de Vries, Sue Teale and Kevin Haines
EAP in times of inter-culturalisation and internationalisation (PowerPoint)Alexander Gooch
EAP with a thousand faces (PowerPoint)Jill Haldane and Phil Davies
Digital teaching and learning in Foundation EAP: preliminary evaluations (PowerPoint)Takeshi Kamijo
Examining L2 learners’ argumentation (PDF)Dr Tatyana Karpenko-Seccombe
Transition to teaching academic writing with corpora (PDF)Helen Lyttle
International students and UK argumentation (PowerPoint)Blair Matthews
Structure, agency and transitions in online environments (PowerPoint)Jill Northcott and Dr Donna Murray
Bridging the gap in an online undergraduate transitions course for all (PowerPoint) -
Anybody out there: addressing audiences in academic discourse
Most EAP practitioners now have opportunities to carry out research while remaining active in the classroom and most of the presentations in the EAP conference 2020 were a result of empirical research. The conference looked at the need for EAP practitioners to be prepared for different audiences: undergraduate and postgraduate, pre-sessional and in-sessional, as well as conference attendance and publication. EAP professionals at the conference also looked at how students need to develop genre awareness and linguistic forms which are discipline-specific.
The title of the conference was: "Anybody out there: addressing audiences in academic discourse".
The plenary speakers were Ursula Wingate from King's College London, and Zak Lancaster from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
See the 2020 programme (PDF) to read all abstracts.
Ursula Wingate's plenary talk
Developing audience awareness in novice writers (PowerPoint)Zak Lancaster's plenary talk
Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Writers’ Developing Conceptions of Audience (PDF)Karen Harris
Fluid, elegant, even beautiful: academic writing as an artistic skill. (PDF)Eoin Jordan
How did students feel about their audience(s) in an online peer-assessed writing task? (PDF)Tom Le Seelleur
How to develop discussion skills for EAP students (PowerPoint)Hilary Nesi and Yan Yan Yeung
Chinese e-dictionaries – what audiences are they intended for? (PowerPoint) -
Sources and resources: engaging with the academic community.
In 2019, EAP experts explored the subtleties of successfully engaging with the academic community. This is the ultimate goal of EAP students, although they may not be fully aware of this. Engagement occurs on a number of levels, through spoken discourse, reading the academic literature and in a great variety of written genres. For many students, using the literature appropriately in their work is fraught with difficulties including what to cite, how to cite it and how to weave this into their own argument.
The plenary speakers were Hilary Nesi from Coventry University and Nigel Caplan from University of Delaware.
See the 2019 programme (PDF) to read all abstracts.
Hilary Nesi's plenary talk
Citation in student writing – what do they do, and why do they do it? (PowerPoint)Nigel Caplan's plenary talk
“Someone will agree that …”: Lexicogrammatical Adventures in Source Use (PDF)Janie Brooks
Making sense of the ‘tangled beast’: the challenges of transdisciplinary writing (PDF)Maureen Finn
Criticality, referenced and non-referenced sentences in student writing (Biomed) (PowerPoint)Debra Jones
Techniques for synthesising sources: what works? (PowerPoint)Dr Becky S.C. Kwan
Source use in Results sections in qualitative research articles (PDF)Joanne Lax
Engineering citation practices for international student graduate writers (PowerPoint)Dr Usha Mani and Chris Jannetta
Students’ writing as a resource to inform practitioners (PowerPoint)Blair Matthews
Seems legit: citing appropriately in academic communities (PowerPoint)Sandra Jeffrey and Louise Rudd
Trust me, I’m the expert! (PDF)Dr Megan M. Siczek
Promoting engagement with sources in genre-based oral academic communication (PowerPoint)Jenifer Spencer
How to train your algorithm: understanding plagiarism checking software (PowerPoint)Anne Vicary
Why can’t they use sources properly? (PDF) -
No innocent bystanders: stance and engagement in academic discourse.
In 2018, the conference focused on the topic of stance. The plenary speaker was Dr Zak Lancaster from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Dr Lancaster explained: "Teachers often make tacit judgments about the quality of stance students project through their written texts, including their attitudes and epistemic judgments (Soliday, 2011). Stance therefore remains a “hidden” yet important factor of success in student coursework writing (Wingate, 2012). In this talk, I draw from three previous studies that together demonstrate how corpus-based linguistic analysis of student writing can expose patterns of stance expressions, ones that differentiate between beginning and advanced students, between disciplinary contexts, and between high- and low-graded papers..."
Read the 2018 programme (PDF) to see all abstracts. Take a look at the list below for presentations available for download.
Zak Lancaster's pre-conference seminar
Stance and academic writing (PowerPoint)Zak Lancaster's plenary talk
Stance and judgement (PowerPoint)Sue Argent
Teaching the language of reasonable persuasion (PowerPoint)Dr Katrien Deroey
Importance marking in lectures: confronting EAP coursebooks with real lectures. (PDF)Jenifer Spencer
Teaching stance: is our approach too simplistic? (PowerPoint) -
Go with the flow: coherence and cohesion in EAP discourse.
Having reflected in 2016 on how language/grammar is inextricably linked with expressing and understanding meaning in academic content, it seemed appropriate to go beyond grammar and look at how cohesive, coherent discourse is achieved. The plenary speaker at the EAP conference in 2017 was Nigel Caplan from University of Delaware. He is the author of "Making Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers".
Take a look at the 2017 programme (PDF) to see the abstracts of the presentations, and see the list below for presentations available for download.
Nigel Caplan's workshop
Genres that work in the writing classroom (PDF)Nigel Caplan's plenary talk
Tricks of the academic writer's trade: the language of cohesion (PDF)Neil Allison
Experimenting on students' written coherence: experimenting an end in itself? (PowerPoint)Begoña Bellés-Fortuño
Using spoken academic corpora for teacher training courses: an EMI case (PDF)Joe Franklin
Cultivating coherent writers in the Southampton Writing Centre (PDF)Maxine Gillway
Feedback: the missing link (PowerPoint)Jill Haldane
Postgraduate Chinese students' response to academic discourse (PowerPoint)Kinga Maior
Teaching cohesion in written EAP discourse through blended learning (PowerPoint)Julie Moore
Making words work together: vocabulary teaching and lexical cohesion (PowerPoint)Chris Nelson
There's no business like flow business - cohesion in IMS' academic writing (PowerPoint)Walter Nowlan, Carla Grimley and Laura Manzie
HyperNew as a paragraph-level cohesive device in argumentative essays (PowerPoint)Norbert Schmitt
Coherence and cohesion in academic discourse: the role of vocabulary (PowerPoint) -
Finding the balance: language and content in EAP.
As EAP schools and departments are developing and evolving, what they teach is constantly changing and their relationship with the rest of the academic community also changes. The conference in 2016 was an opportunity for the EAP community to share thoughts and practices on the topic of balancing language and content.
Dan Jones and Steve Kirk were the plenary speakers in 2016. Read the 2016 programme (PDF) to see all the abstracts and see the list below for presentations available for download.
Steve Kirk
We don’t need to CLIL it; we need to KILL it: knowledge-integrated language learning for EAPDan Jones
From non-integrated language support to CLIL: five approaches to EAP support (PowerPoint)Neil Allison
ESAP: conceptual structures & subject specific lexis (PowerPoint)Jane Bottomley
Using Redrafted texts to explore the principles of academic scientific writing (PowerPoint)Jane Brearley and Elaine Lopez
It's not just about language: the Leeds content-based pre-sessional (PowerPoint)Mary Carr
EAP practitioners: foxes or hedgehogs? (PowerPoint)Clare Carr, Terri Edwards and Michelle Joubert
Negotiating language and content in our EAP materials: three practitioner views (PowerPoint)Kerith George-Briant and Georgina Lloyd
Project skills - the project balance (PowerPoint)Mike Groves
A survey of the foundation sector in terms of content and skills (PowerPoint)Feyza Konyali von Grünig
Let's analyse what you've just agreed on: Writing analytically at A2 level (PDF)Jill Haldane
Linguistic variation in EAP feedback on ESP academic writing (PowerPoint)Ellie McConnell
Motivation and equal opportunities versus academic credibility in the east end o (PowerPoint)Julie Moore
Vocabulary development and learner autonomy: the role of the tutor (PowerPoint)Chris Nelson
Using extracts from student essays as teaching materials (PowerPoint)Jonathan Randall
In-sessional borderlands - toward a definition of in-sessional provision at UAL (PowerPoint)Tom Reid and Diana Hopkins
Weaving a disentangled web: developing partnerships and integrating input (PowerPoint)Ishbel Saxton
Writing enhancement for mathematics undergraduates (PowerPoint) -
Assessment in EAP: what’s the score?
Assessment is a topic EAP professionals frequently revisit, as it is a very complex part of their work and one on which it is very difficult to come to any consensus. As universities are increasingly encouraging new forms of assessment, the task of the EAP teachers is becoming more challenging. Consequently, there is a need for opportunities to discuss issues such as technology-enhanced assessment, marking procedures and criteria, and assessing different genres.
In 2015, the conference showcased a wide range of current thinking on approaches to assessment, with two plenary speakers: Hilary Nesi and Diane Schmitt.
Get a copy of the 2015 programme (PDF) to see all abstracts. You will find presentations available for download here below:
Hilary Nesi's plenary talk
Originality, conformity and content-responsibility (PowerPoint)Diane Schmitt's plenary talk
Key questions in EAP assessment (PDF)Olwyn Alexander
Writing assessment descriptors: ensuring validity and reliability in assessment (PowerPoint)Lorna Fleming and Kerry Tavakoli
Can one size fit all? (PowerPoint)Riccardo Galgani
Maximising formative assessment opportunities on pre-sessional programmes (PDF)Maxine Gillway
Academic listening and speaking: efficiency and effectiveness in assessment (PDF)Dustin Hosseini
Engaging and assessing student learning through ePortfolios (PowerPoint)Bimali Indrarathne, Tasneem Sharkawi, Johnny Unger
Assessing student writing practices in EAP (study skills) (PowerPoint)Carole MacDiarmid
Summative assessment and the pre-sessional (PowerPoint)Alison McBoyle
The role of corrective feedback: formative assessment (PowerPoint)Walter Nowlan
An evaluation of Turnitin as a formative feedback tool (PowerPoint)Karen Ottewell
English language entrance requirements. What should we be testing? (PDF)Bella Reichard
Cross-module marking EAP and subject: practice and challenges (PowerPoint)Christopher Smith
Integrated reading and writing tests: assessing the academic writing construct (PDF)Jenifer Spencer
Assessing structure: developing a shared meta-language (PowerPoint)Gregory Strong
Teaching and assessing an integrated skills discussion task (PDF) -
Innovation in EAP: the key to the future.
Coming soon
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Materials for thought: moving best practice in EAP forward.
Coming soon