The article is available to read online here, or download as a pdf here (scroll to page 51).
An analysis of perceptions: Writing task designers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program and a specific academic discipline (Elaheh Gharesoufloo, Macquarie University)
Introduction
Ella’s study is focused on the perceptions that the teachers who design writing test tasks have of what academic writing actually is. This is an important question to ask, since we know that beliefs and perceptions about language have an impact on pedagogical decisions, including testing and assessment.
Ella conducted her study in two contexts – 1) EAP, and 2) a university discipline – Accounting and Corporate Governance.
She adopted a theoretical framework that views language use within six areas:
skills
creativity
progress
genre
social practice
sociopolitical
(see diagram below)
The findings, on page 53, are interesting and it would be a good starting point to ask:
To what extent do your own perspectives of academic writing fit with these findings?
And, how useful do you find the six discourses of writing?
Image courtesy of http://kausarbilal.com/book-club-launch-at-south-asian-study-group/
Update
The winning article is “An analysis of perceptions: Writing task designers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program and a specific academic discipline” by Elaheh Gharesoufloo, Macquarie University. The article is available to read online here, or download as a pdf here (scroll to page 51).
Some discussion questions will be made available later in the week. In the meantime, happy reading!
Welcome to the voting page of the fourth Article Discussion Group. The idea is for us all to vote for our preferred article from the latest English Australia Journal, read it, and then join in a moderated discussion of the article. Authors will either join in on the discussion, or respond offline to points raised and questions asked, facilitated by the moderator. The discussion will take place on the #AusELT Facebook page and is scheduled as such: May 29-June 4 is reading time; June 5-12 is discussion time.
The articles are all relevant to many of the contexts in which AusELT folk practice. They are primary research articles, that is, the authors have devised and conducted their own research study and reported their findings. In addition, each article has been peer-reviewed, meaning that the editor has invited leading TESOL scholars to review and offer suggestions for improving earlier drafts. We have some excellent reviewers who, together with the authors, have ensured you receive the best quality research reports upon which you can make some decisions about your own teaching.
In order to assist those who are new to reading research articles, the moderator will orient you by providing a summary of the research design and the overall purpose of the research. The discussion will not only focus on how the article can inform your own teaching, but also on opportunities for further research in any form. It will hopefully spark ideas for improving the quality of life in many classrooms! Each article has an abstract for you to read; after all, just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a research article by its title. The complete articles are all open access, freely available online and downloadable in pdf here. The chosen article will be made available as a pdf and available for download on this page.
Book Club Café: A new recipe for extensive reading
Lesley Speer and Jose Lara
Macquarie University English Language Centre
Introducing and sustaining an Extensive Reading program can be challenging for teachers and for language centres. Generally, whilst it is impractical to devote a great deal of the limited time during class to ‘free reading’, motivating students to read in their own time can be especially difficult. Introducing a reading program can also involve considerable costs and a substantial commitment of time for language centres. This paper describes the introduction of ‘Book Club Café’, an innovative Extensive Reading project, and its implementation through three phases at a university English language centre in Sydney. A practical but flexible model is provided for teachers who wish to implement such a program in their own teaching contexts. Finally, data is provided from an Exploratory Practice study which was conducted on the project in 2015 and which indicates that the program is successful and sustainable over time.
School in the cloud, feet on the ground: Language learning with SOLE
James Pengelley, Independent
Jane Pyper, British Council Hong Kong
This article presents an action research project conducted at a learning centre in Hong Kong in which the merits of Sugata Mitra’s Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLE) are applied to an ELT context. Mitra has received significant support for his work on SOLE from various sources, including the TED network and Newcastle University, UK, where he oversees the SOLE Central research unit and The School in the Cloud website which aim to provide a radically modernised education to remote children around the world, as well as to those in mainstream urban classrooms by asking them to research ‘big questions’ on the internet with minimal guidance from a teacher. SOLE pedagogy makes some profound claims about the nature of education and characteristics of best practice, and yet there seems to be very little, if any, independent research available, especially in its application to learning a foreign language. We aimed to address this by investigating the quality of classroom discourse emerging during two SOLE sessions with four groups (N=58) in order to evaluate the merits of using SOLE in language learning environments. We conclude that without significant teacher training, learner training and teacher- intervention, the success of SOLE (and minimally invasive pedagogies) is highly context-dependent and limited as a language learning tool.
Experiencing Thai Student Voice from a teacher’s perspective
Anthony Catto, University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce
Anne Burns, University of New South Wales
Student Voice is a concept which seeks to democratise education by empowering students with authority and influence to effect authentic change in educational systems. In so doing, Student Voice aims to appropriate respect and rights for students and allow for the professional development of teachers and administrators. The aim of the narrative self-study reported in this article was to expose an English language teacher, of British background, working at a Thai University to the experience of critical student voices in order to explore the potential for critical reflection, professional development, and transformative learning. The study focuses on the teacher’s reactions to the written critiques of his teaching, authored by three of his students.
An analysis of perceptions: Writing task designers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program and a specific academic discipline
Elaheh Gharesoufloo, Macquarie University
This qualitative case study investigated academic writing in two contexts. The first was writing task designers at an EAP program; the second was the academics in the discipline of Accounting and Corporate Governance. Two participants from each context volunteered their perspectives on the role and function of academic writing in their respective settings. Drawing on Roz Ivanič’s (2004) theoretical framework, data was coded and categorised into discrete concepts. Analysis of participants’ perspectives reflected core concepts encountered in Ivanič’s framework, although some responses combined discourses proposed as separate by Ivanič. The findings are discussed to illuminate potential implications for different stakeholders.
So, without any more fanfare, please cast your vote! Closes Friday May 26, 2016 at 5 pm DST
Your moderator, Phil Chappell (@TESOLatMQ, Executive Editor of the English Australia Journal)
#AusELT 