Bruce, I. (2018). The EAP teacher knowledge base: Current affordances and future challenges. Presented at the 4th International Conference on EAP Teaching and Researching in China and The 3rd International Conference on EAP in Asia, Conference held in Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China.
Abstract
During the last three decades, there has been rapid growth in the numbers of English for Academic Purposes (or EAP) courses in many countries around the world. These are courses that prepare students for future English-medium academic study, or support students already in English-medium university courses. The theme of this conference – Teaching and Researching EAP in the Diverse Contexts of a Changing Era: Opportunities and Challenges – acknowledges this worldwide growth of EAP, but it also acknowledges the two closely-related dimensions of EAP, those of teaching and research. Teaching and research in EAP are really two sides of the same coin –two closely-related aspects of the field, since teaching EAP is a research-informed, research-led educational activity. However, one of the challenges facing EAP teachers is how to relate the everincreasing body of published EAP research to their own teaching; how do we connect all of this new knowledge to our own professional practice in the classroom. This is this challenge that I will discuss today.
