EAP Essentials: A teacher’s guide to principles and practice (Second Edition)

Olwyn Alexander, Sue Argent, Jenifer Spencer

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ISBN: 9781782606666

All levels
CEF Level: N/A  IELTS Level: N/A

Product Description

With the increase in students joining academic English-language courses, the teaching of English for Academic Purposes is a rapidly expanding profession. There are, however, few specialist handbooks for the practising teacher in this field.

Since the publication of the first edition of EAP Essentials, the number of international students joining English-medium undergraduate and postgraduate courses has continued to rise, and this book has continued to play an important role in the induction and continued professional development of EAP teachers around the world. This second edition maintains the features that made the first edition so valuable, with the addition of insights and additional classroom materials that reflect current developments in the field.

EAP Essentials is grounded in the authors’ extensive practical experience in the EAP classroom. It bridges the gap between the theory and practice of EAP teaching, by distilling the insights from recent research into ideas that can be applied in teaching and materials development. The book builds confidence through a range of practical tasks and by providing case studies of real teachers and students. This enables the teacher to reflect on best practice and identify ways to develop their own teaching skills.

EAP Essentials offers original and practical ideas appropriate to a wide variety of contexts. The accompanying free Classroom Materials also provide a large number of well-trialled materials that can be copied for use within the classroom.

The book contains ten chapters, each one underpinned by up-to-date research, and backed up with a list of recommended further reading.


Format: Paperback

Contents

Unit 1: The context of EAP
Unit 2: Text analysis
Unit 3: Course design
Unit 4: Reading
Unit 5: Vocabulary
Unit 6: Writing
Unit 7: Listening and speaking
Unit 8: Critical thinking
Unit 9: Student autonomy
Unit 10: Assessment
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Author details

Olwyn Alexander co-authored Garnet Education’s EAP Essentials and Access EAP. She teaches English for Academic Purposes to engineering, management and translation studies students at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She has collaborated with colleagues Sue Argent and Jenifer Spencer in writing two distance learning courses: Academic English for Business and Academic English for Science and Technology.

Her current research interests include the use of learning teams for managing large classes and how to establish links between research and teaching in the EAP classroom.

Sue Argent co-authored Garnet Education’s EAP Essentials and Access EAP. She has taught EAP for a number of years in universities in Papua New Guinea and in China, as well as in the UK. She has also taught in adult and further education delivering ESOL and EAP training and supporting teachers.

She has written corpus-based EAP courses for distance learning with Olwyn Alexander and Jenifer Spencer, including specialist courses for business studies and science and technology. Her interests are critical thinking and student autonomy.

Jenifer Spencer is the co-author of EAP Essentials, with Olwyn Alexander and Sue Argent. This teacher’s handbook was based on the insights gained from developing and delivering the Heriot-Watt EAP teacher development course and focused on linking classroom practice and course content with current research, particularly in the areas of discourse analysis and the use of corpora.

After graduating in Chemistry and Philosophy and teaching in the school sector, Jenifer was involved in community education provision for ESOL adult learners, teaching courses in EFL, Business English and EAP at Stevenson College Edinburgh.

In 2001, Jenifer joined Heriot-Watt University as part of a team researching and writing a corpus-based EAP distance-learning course for students preparing to study Management degrees. She was later involved in developing a parallel course to prepare students for degrees in Science and Engineering subjects. Other materials development projects have included a research skills module to prepare students for the reading approaches needed for study at masters level.

She now works as a freelance editor, writer and consultant, with a particular interest in academic genre studies and the study of academic vocabulary and was recently involved in editing the discourse analysis volume Arab News and Conflict by Samia Bazzi (John Benjamins, 2009).

Reviews

Reviews of first edition:

‘a thought-provoking and stimulating read, full of practical recommendations, opportunities to reflect, and theories to apply ... challenging us, as readers, to take a critical lens to our practices as teachers.’

Peter Thomas, Middlesex University (JEAP)

‘One of the most engaging parts of the book is the multitude of case studies to enhance reflective practice.’

Sally Ashton-Hay, Queensland University of Technology (TESOL in Context)

‘...thorough engagement with current developments in applied linguistics and pedagogical theory has informed the book’

Kaithe Greene (TEFL.net)

'This is an indispensable resource for lecturers, tutors, instructors and academics involved in EAP as well as MA TESOL students who may wish to enter the realms of EAP on graduation. All in all, this is a highly recommended publication.'

Professional and Academic English: Journal of the IATEFL ESPSIG