Academic texts are dense as well as complex as well as tin live on tricky for native speakers to read, hence for EAP students they nowadays all kinds of challenges. This inward plough poses a challenge for EAP materials writers. Do nosotros usage absolutely authentic texts because that’s what our students (will) demand to bargain with, or produce nosotros simplify them inward or hence way to brand them to a greater extent than manageable?
There are proficient arguments inward favour of using authentic academic texts inward EAP materials. As Alexander, Argent & Spencer pose it: “Teachers may live on concerned that the content as well as vocabulary of [authentic] texts volition nowadays also many difficulties as well as should live on left to a afterward stage, but the reality is that, for EAP students, in that place is no afterward stage.” (EAP Essentials, 2008). If students are already having to bargain alongside academic texts equally purpose of their studies (or volition really shortly convey to) as well as hence it doesn’t brand much feel non to tackle like texts inward an EAP class. Indeed, I’ve known one-time students complain that their EAP course of written report didn’t gear upwardly them for the reality of written report inward English linguistic communication because it was also easy, making for a daze when they got thrown into their dependent courses.
However, using a complex academic text inward EAP materials tin convey drawbacks too:
- students only learn lost as well as confused as well as goal upwardly losing confidence as well as motivation
- decoding the text becomes a distraction; the instructor ends upwardly spending most of the lesson ‘going through’ the text (whether they intended to or not) as well as the primary focus of the lesson gets rather sidelined
- students only learn lost as well as confused as well as goal upwardly losing confidence as well as motivation
- decoding the text becomes a distraction; the instructor ends upwardly spending most of the lesson ‘going through’ the text (whether they intended to or not) as well as the primary focus of the lesson gets rather sidelined
Weighing upwardly these 2 perspectives is tricky as well as depends inward purpose on the aim of the materials as well as the target audience. If you’re working on wider reading skills, a long authentic text mightiness live on precisely what yous need, whereas if you’re focusing on micro-skills (citation, hedging, vocabulary, or other linguistic communication features), as well as hence it could travel an unwanted distraction. Similarly, the degree of text that in-sessional students on a discipline-specific (ESAP) course of written report tin create produce alongside volition live on really unlike from what foundation level, pre-sessional and/or mixed-discipline students volition live on able to manage.
It’s an number I came across ane time to a greater extent than inward or hence recent writing function as well as it prompted me to await dorsum at what I’d said well-nigh choosing texts inward How to Write EAP Materials. The tactics I suggested in that place for making authentic academic texts to a greater extent than manageable included:
- usage brusk texts: sometimes a really brusk text (such equally an abstract or a definition) or a brusk extract from a longer text provides only plenty context to illustrate a item linguistic communication point
- lower the cognitive load: yesteryear choosing texts aimed at high schoolhouse students (such equally Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 degree or IB texts) or really introductory undergraduate texts, yous maintain the academic style, but the content is less daunting
- abridge texts: sometimes only taking out a complicated event tin brand a text easier to empathise without losing also much inward damage of authenticity
One additional tactic that I’ve been using a lot inward the materials I’ve been working on late is to produce a lot of the decoding function for the student. By which I hateful that yous furnish a heavily scaffolded line of piece of occupation to learn the basic decoding out of the way relatively apace earlier moving onto the to a greater extent than specific focus of the lesson. Different options include:
- orbit students 3 or iv single-sentence summaries of the text as well as they convey to select the best ane (and explicate their choice)
- orbit paraphrases of primal points which students convey to grade equally either truthful or false, or orbit a laid of paraphrases that students convey to pose inward gild to create a summary
- orbit ‘student’ citations (either written or spoken for variety) which paraphrase primal points as well as students fit them to the relevant sections of the master text
By providing unproblematic paraphrases of primal points inward the outset task, you’re doing a lot of the function for the educatee inward getting to grips alongside the primary ideas inward the text. This agency that yous tin learn onto dealing alongside the specific focus of the lesson (analysing a item linguistic communication characteristic or working on a micro-skill) to a greater extent than quickly. It also provides useful examples of paraphrasing, introduces or hence primal synonyms as well as is ‘authentic’ inward the feel that it shows students what they mightiness produce themselves when citing from a text.
I approximate it all comes dorsum to keeping the aim of the lesson inward mind. If the aim isn’t to function on agreement a long reading text, but yous nonetheless demand to present the linguistic communication inward context, as well as hence honour ways to aid students through that purpose hence that yous tin learn onto the existent goal of the lesson alongside minimum distraction.
How To Write EAP Materials is available to download equally an ebook via Amazon as well as Smashwords.
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