EAP Curriculum Alignment and Social Acculturation: Student Perceptions

Abstract

As factors in facilitating student social and psychological acculturation, the role played by teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) and the ESL instructional content they deliver are widely acknowledged. Studies across

An EAP Program and Students’ Success at a Canadian University

“…Research has examined whether EAP programs fulfill students' needs in preparing them to meet the challenges of mainstream university for graduate studies (Terraschke & Wahid, 2011), undergraduate studies (Cheng & Fox, 2008;Evans & Green, 2007;Tweedie & Kim, 2015), or both gradu-VOLUmE 34, iSSUE 2, 2017 ate and under graduate studies (Dooey, 2010;Floyd, 2015;Fox, Cheng, & Zumbo, 2014). For example, two studies explored post-EAP students' perceptions by interviewing them in their first university term in Australia (Dooey, 2010) and Canada (Tweedie & Kim, 2015).…”

“…For example, two studies explored post-EAP students' perceptions by interviewing them in their first university term in Australia (Dooey, 2010) and Canada (Tweedie & Kim, 2015). The participants reported that although the EAP pathway program helped them develop academic skills such as writing, group work, and note taking, it did not help meet their needs in vocabulary and reading (Tweedie & Kim, 2015) or the oral and listening proficiencies that they needed to integrate with local students and participate in class discussions (Dooey, 2010). Participants' desire for opportunities to interact with and learn from locals or previous EAP students, as Tweedie and Kim (2015) point out, highlights the importance of social acculturation.…”

“…The participants reported that although the EAP pathway program helped them develop academic skills such as writing, group work, and note taking, it did not help meet their needs in vocabulary and reading (Tweedie & Kim, 2015) or the oral and listening proficiencies that they needed to integrate with local students and participate in class discussions (Dooey, 2010). Participants' desire for opportunities to interact with and learn from locals or previous EAP students, as Tweedie and Kim (2015) point out, highlights the importance of social acculturation. In contrast to the above complaints about the misalignment of EAP instruction with students' needs, positive comments from EAP students were reported by Fox et al (2014).…”

“…Research findings about EAP programs in other contexts, however, have been inconclusive. The programs can be either useful in helping students develop in certain skills but not others (Dooey, 2010;Tweedie & Kim, 2015), or helpful in some students' eyes but not others (Cheng & Fox, 2008). Previous research also suggests that "EAP program" is used as an umbrella term for different programs-that is, graduate or undergraduate programs, discipline-and faculty-specific programs (e.g., business, engineering), or a specific type of program open to students of different disciplines, educational levels, and language proficiency levels.…”

“…This draws our attention to the Canadian context, which is "underexamined" (Fox et al, 2014, p. 59). Of the four studies in this review that were conducted in Canada (Cheng & Fox, 2008;Fox et al, 2014;James, 2006;Tweedie & Kim, 2015), only two were conducted in the previous five years, a small number when considering that the number of ESL students entering Canadian universities is increasing at a rapid rate. In addition, none of these studies was designed to follow students from the EAP program to the disciplinary programs.…”