Accommodating diversity at a distance

Paul Thompson and Anne Pallant

The University of Reading

1. EAP Writing - Classroom-Based Background

• One class, same discipline
• One class, different disciplines

2. The Background To The Current Project

• IRD
• Clients’ Requirements
• Participants
• Needs Analysis

3. The Problems

1. Diversity
   1. Disciplines
   2. Levels
2. Isolation/distance
3. Time
4. Teaching methodology

4. Our Response To The Problems: Materials and Procedures

• Accommodating diversity
• Exploiting Technology
• Flexibility
• Clear Procedures

5. Evaluation, so far

Effective, but still some unresolved issues;
the two major ones are:

1. Different research paradigms
2. Effective use of tutor time

References

Barron, C. (1992) Cultural Syntonicity: Co-operative relationships between the ESP unit and other departments. Hong Kong Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching 15, 1-15.

Bhatia, V.K. (1993) Analysing genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.

Blue, G.M. (1988) ‘Individualising academic writing tuition’ in P.C. Robinson (ed.) Academic Writing: Process and Product. ELT Documents 129.

Campbell, C. and H. Kryszewska (1992) Learner-Based Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dudley-Evans, T. and M. J. St John, (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Flowerdew, J. (1993) An Educational, or process, approach to the teaching of professional genres. ELT Journal, 47/4

Howe P.M. (1993) Planning a Pre-sessional course in English for Academic Legal Purposes. In G.M. Blue (ed.) Language, Learning and Success: Studying through English. Developments in ELT Hemel Hempstead: Phoenix ELT

Johns, Ann J. (1997) Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Johns, T and T. Dudley Evans (1980) An experiment in team-teaching of overseas postgraduate students oftransportation and plant biology. In British Council, 1980 Team Teaching in ESP. ELT Document 106. London: British Council English Teaching Information Centre.

Lea, M. R. and B. Street (1999) ‘Writing as academic literacies: understanding textual practices in higher education’. In C.N. Candlin, and K. Hyland, (ed.) (1999) Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices Harlow: K Addison Wesley Longman Limited

Shih, M. (1986) Content-based approaches to teaching academic writing. TESOL Quarterly 20 (4), 6 17-648

Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Back