The ExIST Project: Applying EAP Teaching Approaches Across the

Curriculum

Dr. Ellie Kennedy, Nottingham Trent UniversityBALEAP Conference, April 2013

Internationalisation in HE

Internationalised student body Somewhat internationalised

curriculumNext step: work with tutors to

internationalise teaching styles in order to take account of international students’ learning needs

Outline

‘TEFL’ teaching skills have an application in HE far beyond the EAP classroom

Value of EAP/communicative techniques in HE ExIST Project – Excellence in International Student

Teaching Institutional Context (NTIC) Raising tutor awareness of IS needs ‘EAP’ Framework for subject tutors (FLUTE) Applying FLUTE to specific subjects Peer mentoring (tutors)

Evaluating Project Success Outcomes and Next Steps

Importance of Communicative Participation for Academic Success

[F]aculty believe that the behaviors most responsible for impeding international students’ academic success are: (a) their lack of participation in classroom discussions, (b) their lack of participation in debate with classmates or instructors, and (c) their failure to ask for clarification of issues . . . that are unclear (Tompson & Tompson, 1996).

EAP tutors routinely employ communicative techniques to foster student participation in class activities

Also break down complex materials into simpler steps Academic subject tutors can employ these techniques too,

particularly in seminars for active discussion and debate

Seminar Issues – Research

Academic research focuses on: International students in seminars

alongside home students (Lee 2009; Coward & Miller 2010)

There is little on helping tutors teach academic subjects in an international-only environment

Project: Institutional ContextNottingham Trent International College: Undergraduate and postgraduate students Mainly from China, Africa, Middle East Preparing to study at Nottingham Trent University

Students receive 2-3 terms of instruction in: Their academic subject (e.g. Business, Media, Art &

Design) EAP (separated into English language classes and

Study Skills)

Tutors: Academic subject lecturers and EAP tutors Permanent (full-time) and sessional Varying degrees of teaching qualification and

experience with IS

ExIST Project – Background

Excellence in International Student Teaching

Anecdote/observation suggested: Among EAP tutors, a desire for increased

knowledge of subject content Among subject tutors, varying degrees of

awareness of barriers to international student participation

skills in lessening those barriers techniques to foster active participation

ExIST Project

Excellence in International Student Teaching

Time frame: two terms Participation: voluntary (open to all tutors)

Three elements: Introductory workshops Subject-specific workshops Peer mentoring

Aim: bring together EAP tutors and subject tutors to share skills and knowledge

ExIST 1 Introductory WorkshopExample case study for Business seminar: New Coke: A Classic Brand Failure (Haig 2003)Teacher’s aim: students debate the question: “was New Coke a tactical manoeuvre or a mistake?”

‘Traditional’ approach: Set case study as pre-seminar reading Students arrive ready to engage in the debate

Workshop goals:1. consider why this approach might not work for

international students2. develop a more effective strategy

Raising Awareness of IS needs

Participants worked in groups to brainstorm typical problems faced by international students in seminars.

Compared their ideas with selection from published research: Linguistic inhibitions (Brown 2008)

can’t follow the discussion can’t express own ideas quickly in English can’t always understand the seminar reading

materials Cultural barriers to participation (Leki 2001)

used to more passive forms of learning difficulty understanding instructions

ExIST Approach to Case Study

ExIST/communicative approach Engagement with the case study

follows a series of steps (scaffolding) to familiarise students with the language and content

Critical engagement (debate) is the final step

Steps Towards Critical Engagement

Useable EAP framework for non-EAP trained subject tutors.

Suggested steps:Focus LanguageUnderstanding ContentThinking TimeEngagement

ExIST Approach to Case Study Workshop Process

Introduce FLUTE framework for lesson planning

Apply FLUTE to New Coke case studyPlan effective seminar debate on the

question: “was New Coke a tactical manoeuvre or a mistake?”

Compare with pre-prepared suggestion

Participants worked in groups of mixed subject/EAP tutors.

FLUTE in Actionwhat why

Focus Introduce main themes before working with text

Identify/reactivate key ideas; filter out less important ones

Language Key terms for using concepts from the input

Identify, understand, use key terms; map text structure

Understanding Content

Most important things that ‘happen’ in the text

Basic understanding before critical analysis

Thinking

Time

Prepare response & gather evidence from text

Low-pressure: work with text in academic way

Engagement

Debate, discussion, presentation, essay

Express stance and support w. textual evidence

ExIST 2 Subject-Specific Workshops

Corresponded with NTIC subject areas: Business Economics & Statistics Media Social Sciences & Law Art & Design Research Methods Computing

Subject-Specific Workshops

Materials provided by subject tutors (e.g. written text, video, assessment brief, lecture slides, worksheet…)

Subject tutors and EAP tutors worked in groups to apply the FLUTE steps (and own ideas)

Goal: plan lesson to foster international student critical engagement with seminar materials

Subject-Specific Workshops

In applying FLUTE steps to materials from own disciplines, workshop participants started to consider pair work, group tasks, construction of understanding through collaboration and dialogue:

Communicative/EAP teaching by stealth?

ExIST 3 Peer Mentoring

Subject tutors were paired with EAP tutors for: Reciprocal sharing of skills and

knowledgeKeeping in contactHelping adapt materialsPeer teaching observationsAnd any other relevant strategies

Evaluating Success

Workshop take-up26 permanent staff (out of 31)13 sessional tutors

Online survey to investigate: Tutors’ perceived awareness of international students’

specific learning needs (before and after workshops) Tutors’ rating of own ability to adapt materials for

international students Perceived effects of ExIST techniques on student

comprehension and critical engagement

Respondents: 19 EAP tutors; 9 subject tutors

3.00

2.90

3.10

3.20

3.30

3.40

3.50

3.60

3.70

3.80

0

Avera

ge

Resp

onse

s

Before Workshops

After Workshops

Respondents’ rating of own awareness of international students’ specific learning needs

Respondents’ rating of ability to adapt own teaching approach for NTIC students

Figure 1: NTIC tutors’ self-rating of their awareness of international students’ specific learning needs and ability to adapt teaching approach for NTIC students

Adoption and Effects of ExIST Shortly after the end of the project, half

the respondents reported an intent to try out techniques from the workshops, and 45% had already done so

The latter (11 respondents) were asked whether they had noticed any resulting improvement in: student comprehension critical engagement

Effects of using ExIST techniques

Improved student comprehension

Improved critical engagement

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

not at allsomewhatsignificantly

Figure 3: perceived improvements in student comprehension and critical engagement when techniques from workshops were employed

Outcomes

Bank of lesson plans/adapted materials from subject-specific workshops

Cross-curricular working relationships

Tutors report increased confidence in ability to adapt teaching for international students

Tutors report improved student comprehension and engagement

Broadening the Scope

Scaling up to larger groups less successful with a class of 35?

Apply to more subjects sciences?

Transfer to university setting with home and international students useful for seminars and tutorials link to internationalisation agenda ‘interactive teaching styles’ benefit all

Lessons from ExIST

‘EAP-style’ approaches which can help subject tutors teach (international) students more effectively:

consider barriers to student participation make language and content more accessible

in order to promote critical engagement incorporate structured ‘thinking’ activities employ ‘communicative’ tasks involving

pair/group work

Internationalise the Teaching

Internationalise teaching styles to take account of international students’ learning needs can apply for all students, whatever

their cultural background and language ability

Academic staff appreciate sharing skills and knowledge across disciplines

References

Brown, L. 2008. Language and anxiety: An ethnographic study of international postgraduate students. Evaluation and Research in Education, 21(2), 75–95.

Coward, F.L. & Miller, P.C. 2010. Navigating the Graduate Seminar Discussion: A Qualitative Analysis of International Students’ Experiences. International Journal of Communication 4. http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/780/472

Lee, G. 2009. Speaking up: Six Korean students’ oral participation in class discussions in US graduate seminars. English for Specific Purposes. 28 (3), 142-156.

Leki, I. 2001. A narrow thinking system: Nonnative-English speaking students in group projects across the curriculum. TESOL Quarterly, 35, 39–67.

Tompson, H. B., & Tompson, G. H. 1996. Confronting diversity issues in the classroom with strategies to improve satisfaction and retention of international students. Journal of Education for Business, 72, 53–57.