The Teaching of EAP: Shared and

Individual Features Across Genres and

DisciplinesYang Ruiying PhD, ProfessorXi’an Jiaotong UniversityEmail: yangryd@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

• What should we include in a EAP course?

• What genres are essential for university or postgraduate students?

• Is it possible to teach a class with students from different disciplines?

IntroductionIntroduction

Outline

• ESP and EAP

• Genres in the academic circle across disciplines

• Common features and individual features

• Implications for EAP teaching

The Tree of ELT

ESP and EAP should be Learner-centered.ESP and EAP should be Learner-centered.

Primary Academic Genres

Supporting Academic Genres (Swales, 2011)Getting into Graduate School

Statements of PurposePersonal Statements

Finding Your Voice in the Academic CommunityCommunicating with SeniorsCommunicating with Co-authorsRequests and RemindersWriting Apologies

Establishing Yourself in Graduate SchoolResearch proposal

Small Grant ApplicationsOther ApplicationsLetters of Recommendation

Supporting the Publication ProcessManuscript SubmissionsResponding to Reviewers and Editors

Moving on to an Academic or Research CareerCurricula VitaeExternal Job ApplicationsStatements of Teaching Philosophy

A genre-based approach to the teaching of EAPA genre-based approach to the teaching of EAP

Skills-based approachSkills-based approach

Task-based approachTask-based approach

Comparing the structure of RA introduction across disciplines

The Genre of English Research Article

The macro-structure: IMRD/C

Move One: Establishing a Territory

Step 1: Claiming centrality (and/or)

Step 2: Making topic generalization(s) (and/or)

Step 3: Reviewing items of previous research

Declining rhetorical effort

Move Two: Establishing a niche

Step 1A: Counter-claiming (or)

Step 1B: Indicating a gap (or)

Step 1C: Question-raising (or)

Step 1D: Continuing a tradition

Weakening knowledge claims

Move Three: Occupying the niche

Step 1A: Outlining purposes (or)

Step 1B: Announcing present research

Step 2: Announcing particular findings

Step 3: Indicating RA structure Increasing explicitness

The CARS Model (Swales 1990:141)

Move Step

M1: Establishing a territory

Making topic-generalization

Graduated driver licensing (GDL) policies have been introduced in many jurisdictions in an attempt to reduce young driver crash risk. While the specifics of various laws vary, they can be characterized as involving three-stages. The first stage, typically referred to as the learner stage, requires all driving by the novice to be supervised. The second stage allows unsupervised driving but with restrictions. The final stage is obtaining the full license (Shope, 2007).

M1: Establishing a territory

Reviewing relevant items of previous research

GDL has been shown to be effective in reducing crashes (Russell et al., 2011) but there is much room for improvement (Williams et al., 2012). Research, can assist in this respect and several research reviews have been published over the last decade with most recent being by Williams et al. (2012).

M2: Establishing a niche

Indicating a gap The review preceding that in 2012 covered the period 2007–2010 and highlighted that until recently little was known about what went on during the learner stage (Williams and Shults, 2010).

Question-raising In particular: “how much and what types of driving are done, adherence to restrictions, how parents manage this stage, and interactions between parents and teens” (p. 80). While the 2010 review indicated that some information was starting to emerge on these issues, a reading of that review and the update in 2012 reveals no progress in our understanding of a key element of this stage, namely adherence to the supervisory restriction and crash risk associated with non-adherence.

M3: Occupying the niche

Outlining purposes (Listing research questions)

In this paper we address the following research questions:(1)What are the associations between socio-demographic and behavioural factors and compliance with learner licensed supervised driving condition (Investigation 1)?

(2) Is unsupervised driving as a learner licence holder associated with elevated crash risk while holding a learner licence (Investigation 2)?

(Accident Analysis and Prevention 60: 24–30.)

Comparing the structure of RA introduction and the Introduction of plenary conference presentation

The potential structure of the Beginning

Move One: Expressing thanks Step 1: Thanking the chair Step 2: Thanking the organization committee Step 3: Thanking audience Move Two: Checking out supporting resources Step 1: Checking handout Step 2: Checking volume

The potential structure of the Introduction section

Move One: Contextualizing topic

Step 1: Accounting personable experienceStep 2: Telling an anecdote / jokeStep 3: Indicating relevance to conference theme

Move Two: Occupying the nicheStep 1: Announcing topicStep 2: Outlining purposesStep 3: Indicating significanceStep 4: Defining terminologyStep 5: Indicating structure / content

*Move Three: Establishing a nicheStep 1: Telling an anecdoteStep 2: Indicating a gapStep 3: Re-emphasizing the purpose

Potential needs for graduate

study overseas

Getting into graduate school

Studying at English-medium

universities

• Statements of Purpose

• Curricula Vitae• Application for

financial aid• Communicating

with Seniors

• Experimental report• Course / term paper• Research proposal• Thesis and

Dissertation• Research article• Conference

presentation

Awareness-raising of the shared features and variations

Pattern-seeking pedagogic activities

Integration of situated learning and explicit teaching

Exploration of underlying motivations

Principles of EAP teaching

Authentic texts are to be employed to guarantee that the learners are learning what they need.

Students’ previous generic knowledge in terms of the communicative purpose should be activated at the beginning stage.

Deconstruction or analysis of relevant texts in terms of move and step is to be used to raise students’ awareness of the rhetorical organization at both macro and micro level of RAs and the linguistic exponents to signal the structure.

Task design -- Principles

The tasks are pattern-seeking, designed to guide students to not only understand the rhetorical patterns and linguistic features but also to explore the rationale of them.

Both common features of the RA genre and the individual features of particular cases should be taken into account in the design of tasks so that students will obtain a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the genre, which can prepare them for reading and writing of RAs.

The importance of genre knowledge

• Genres are essential elements of language just as words, syntactic structures, and sound patterns. In order to express one’s individual thoughts, one must use available patterns for speech; that is to say, genres, in one way or another. Virtually every communicative interchange between people, whether in speech or in writing, involves generic structure…

(Berkenkotter and Huckin 1995:160-161)