Why blog about Teaching EAP?

Why blog about teaching EAP?

Three of us –  Julie King, Martha Jones and Alex Ding – have been working on developing a new MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes at the University of Nottingham. As we have been developing this MA, we have explored and discussed a host of issues regarding teaching English for Academic Purposes and, collectively, we have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal we query, question and critique. We would like to share our thoughts and to engage in debate with EAP practitioners, researchers, TESOL teachers, those who have an interest in higher education and, importantly, those who wish to become EAP practitioners.

We are all experienced EAP practitioners and teacher educators and have our own views and perpsectives on EAP, academic literacies, language, education, ideology, teacher development, academia, students, assessment, …. the list is long! A blog is the best way, we feel, to reach a wide audience and generate discussion.

Most importantly, we feel that there is a need to provide an open, topical, critical and engaging place to debate those issues which concern us as practitioners.

When will we post?

A new blog entry will be posted every two weeks starting on the 25th of May (every second Friday)

Who will contribute to the blog?

We hope to balance contributions from the three of us with contributions from you. If you have something to say, an opinion to express, or research to discuss get in touch. We have a  limit of 1.000 words, or 10 minutes of video. Importantly, all posts will be written in an engaging but nonetheless rigorous manner. These posts are not rants but carefully constructed personal perspectives and views aiming to challenge and provoke.

We look forward to the debates!

Julie, Martha and Alex