Why EAP is necessary: A survey of Hong Kong tertiary students

Evans, Stephen; Green, Christopher

doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2006.11.005

Cited by 248 publications

(208 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

157

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They suffered from the speed of delivery of speech, missing key words and the strange accent of the speaker as a result of not getting enough exposure to native English. Similarly, Evans and Green (2007) gave a questionnaire to 5000 Cantonese undergraduate students from 26 departments and found that students face difficulties when they study their major subjects in English. They suffer particularly from insufficient vocabulary knowledge.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

EFL College Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties of Comprehending Academic English Lectures

Al-Nouh¹,

Abdul-Kareem²

2017

WJER

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

EFL College Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties of Comprehending Academic English Lectures

Al-Nouh¹,

Abdul-Kareem²

2017

WJER

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Cummins (1996) suggests that a task in which a first language student succeeds with little contextual support is likely to be more challenging for a second language student. Findings of Evans and Green's (2007) study of Hong Kong's tertiary students' difficulties with English for Academic Purposes (EAP) suggest that the students experienced greater difficulty with language. This finding suggests that even when the students understand content and are academically literate in another language, their intellectual abilities might be misinterpreted and/or misrepresented due to language difficulties.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, international postgraduate students may be faced with the challenge of studying in a language (of that institution) that they have only previously encountered as a school subject and not as a medium of instruction. This situation may be a source of challenges for these students because the ability to use the medium of instruction competently and confidently is central to academic success (Burke & Wyatt-Smith 1996;Deem & Brehony 2000;Coleman 2004;Evans & Green 2007;Abasi & Graves 2008;Harrington & Roche 2014) and difficulties in using it contribute to problems experienced by students in completing their studies (Deem & Brehony 2000). This is because language mediates communication and, therefore, serves as a 'link between the learner and the teacher' (Rollnick 2000, 95).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some forms of university and lecturer support include familiarising students with institutional literacy and academic practices through bridging courses (Jones, Turner & Street 1999;Evans & Green 2007), establishing sound relationships between students and lecturers (Cummins 1996;Leki 2006), orientation programmes (Cadman 2000;Abasi & Graves 2008), pedagogic support in the form of extra classroom sessions and extra time for assignments and examinations (Benesch 2001). Interestingly, some university systems and lecturers work as academic border guards 3 rather than as facilitators of a smooth transition between 'old' and 'new' discourses and environments, notably by labelling NNES as 'the other' (Haugh 2008) or 'at risk students' and considering and/or treating them as a 'burden' or a threat to teaching and learning outcomes (Harrington & Roche 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

'We know what to say, we know what to write, but we don't know how': the challenges of becoming academically literate in a new linguistic and socio-cultural space

Sibomana¹

2016

Educ. as change.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Historically, some languages and discourses which were initially localised subsequently became regionally or even globally dominant. Currently, English is the dominant global language in all domains, including the academic. Thus academics and scholars from non-English backgrounds are at a disadvantage: they have to adhere to academic literacy conventions in a language in which they may not be completely proficient. This article discusses findings from a study of challenges experienced by a group of postgraduate students from Rwanda whose main languages are Kinyarwanda and French, but whose studies and research at a South African university were in English. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to 21 students and through interviews with four of these students and with three lecturers/research supervisors. Assignment tasks and lecturers' feedback on assignments and research work were also analysed. The findings suggest that, besides the challenges of studying and researching through the medium of English, these students' previous academic 'ways with words' differ from those expected by their lecturers and research supervisors. This article offers a critical discussion of these differences and We know what to say, we know what to write, but we don't know how of the strategies adopted by students to master 'the right English' to cross academic borders. It raises questions about academic borders and academics as border guards.

show abstract

“…Evans and Green (2007), in a study conducted in Hong Kong to find out the tertiary students English language needs, found that most of the undergraduate students "not only required language support at university, but also that this support should be oriented towards academic rather than general English" (p. 5). Hyland (1997) also notes that students generally see the value of EAP classes as they recognize that proficiency in English is an important determinant of academic success in an English-medium environment.…”

Section: Teaching Of English For Academic Purposes (Eap)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Needs Analysis of why Students in a Ghanaian University Fail the Academic Writing Course

Nartey¹,

Dorgbetor²

2014

JESR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the last two and half decades, academic literacy has received considerable attention in tertiary education in several Englishmedium universities. Consequently, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and analogous writing programs have constantly been revised in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia, especially with the objective of meeting the needs of students. Contrarily, EAP programs in most countries in sub-saharan Africa, including Ghana have received very little innovation and change. In this paper, we moot the idea that the principal reason for which a vast majority of students fail an EAP program (Academic Writing) in an English-medium university in Ghana stems from the lack of correlation between the course curriculum/classroom pedagogy and the course examination. To this end, we propose key changes to the curriculum, and conclude with a discussion of some implications worth considering for both curriculum designers and implementers of EAP in university education.

show abstract

Why EAP is necessary: A survey of Hong Kong tertiary students

Cited by 248 publications

References 27 publications

EFL College Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties of Comprehending Academic English Lectures

EFL College Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties of Comprehending Academic English Lectures

'We know what to say, we know what to write, but we don't know how': the challenges of becoming academically literate in a new linguistic and socio-cultural space

Towards a Needs Analysis of why Students in a Ghanaian University Fail the Academic Writing Course

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About