Anecdotal reports across the Higher Education sector in the UK suggest there has been a rapid recent expansion in the numbers of students taking Foundation Programmes, which combine study of academic subjects with study of EAP, to prepare for undergraduate study. What seems new is that the student population is more diverse, including both international students who have learned English as a foreign language, international students following English-medium instruction (EMI) in their home countries, and students in the UK whose English is an additional spoken language (EAL). This third group may be the first in their family to go to university so they lack the cultural capital that parents educated to tertiary level can pass to their children. These students may have short attention spans and need considerable pastoral support in understanding how to study effectively. It can be argued that each of these three groups have different language learning and study skills needs yet they are often taught together in EAP classrooms, representing a significant challenge in course design. In this post I want to think about syllabus design which enables these diverse groups to learn together in one classroom.
Continue reading “Foundation Programmes: designing courses for students from diverse backgrounds”Foundation Programmes: designing courses for students from diverse backgrounds
Searching for universal concepts in EAP course design
EAP Essentials 