Provision of in-sessional EAP in British HE institutions: Some problems and solutions

Andy Gillett

University of Hertfordshire

This talk was about some aspects of organising In-Sessional English Language Support Classes. I looked at some of the problem areas and some of the possible solutions. I then gave some of the solutions to these problems that BALEAP member institutions have found.

One of my favourite books on ELT is Earl Stevick’s Images and Option in the Language Classroom (CUP, 1986). Stevick is mainly interested in the teacher in the classroom but the main point of the second part of the book is that teachers have a lot of choices in every aspect of their teaching. He says that the purpose of the book is to “show some of my fellow … English teachers the rich possibilities that they were overlooking in their … materials.” So one of my objectives was to try to make people more aware of the range of options available in organising in-sessional classes.

What I said was based on my experience working at several universities in the late 1980s and early 1990s and trying to set up In-Sessional classes at UH – pretty much from zero - at the beginning of 1994 plus results from a small e-mail survey that I did before Easter 1998 (21 BALEAP members).

I think my basic question was:

How do you get the students who need it to come to the support classes?

OR

How do you organise support classes so that students can/will come?

So I’ve looked at areas where I think we have options, tried to offer a range of solutions, and tried to give you some idea of what BALEAP members are doing based on 21 responses to my e-mail questionnaire.

Category	Range of options			BALEAP solutions (from survey)
Status	Credit bearing		Not credit bearing	Mostly non-credit bearing
	Voluntary/optional		Compulsory	Often some kind of compulsion: conditional offers etc.
	Free/centrally funded		Someone (student or department) pays	Most centrally funded
Subject	Language skills		Study skills	Both, but much counselling/advice.
	General English		EAP	Mostly EAP, skills based.
	EGAP		ESAP	Good mixture, tending towards ESAP when possible.
	Immediate needs		Long term needs	Many people mentioned need to address immediate needs.
	Integrated skills		Single skills based	Mostly single skills and mostly writing.
	Pre-defined syllabus		Syllabus negotiated	Some negotiation is preferable.
	Textbook based		Students’ materials	No mention.
	One textbook		Many textbooks	No mention
Course	Organised dates		Drop in	Usually dates are published in advance but students join late.
	Classes		One to one	Most people had both.
	Register		No registration	Several people mentioned registration, but usually not.
	General timetable		In students' dept. timetable	Cooperation with subject departments useful (essential?) but difficult.
	English rooms		Subject rooms	Cooperation with sujcet departments useful but difficult.
	Usual times		Unusual times	Mostly 5.00-7.00, Wednesday pm, Lunchtimes
	Entry test/assessment		No test	Many people mentioned some kind of initial proficiency or diagnostic testing.
	1 hour classes		3 hour classes	A mixture of one-hour skills based classes and more general longer classes..
	1 year		3 days	Short intensive classes in vacations useful.
	Lectures		Workshops/Seminars	Lectures can accommodate more people but need following up.
	Students limited		No limit	Usually some limit is necessary.
Students	One subject/dept.		Mixed subjects	Departmental specific courses useful where possible.
	One nationality		Mixed	Depends - arguments for both.
	All students together		U/G & P/G separate	Useful to separate u/g and p/g.
	All students		Only overseas	Some only overseas, most accept ERASMUS/SOCRATES too; including home-students is increasing.
	One language level		Multi-level	Ideally classes would be one language level.

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