The need for MBA programmes to prepare managers for international business requires an internatio... more The need for MBA programmes to prepare managers for international business requires an international, interactive learning environment. This article considers the role of interactive lecturing styles within the context of the Edinburgh University MBA programme. A broad ethnographic perspective is adopted in order to provide`thick' description of the learning context. Illustrations are taken from ®ve dierent MBA classes of which three are core courses: Marketing, Economics and Statistics. The other two examples are from the second term options: Financial Institutions and Management of Technology. The examples show a variety of ways of including student oral participation within the lecture framework. Implications of this and future investigations of the MBA classroom for both EAP/ESP professionals and subject lecturers are considered.
Increasing globalisation has led to English becoming the lingua franca of international legal pra... more Increasing globalisation has led to English becoming the lingua franca of international legal practice requiring L2 legal professionals to develop high level skills in English thus creating significant challenges for language educators who may not have a background in law. ...
Ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin is a pressing concern in Taiwan. With the concerns o... more Ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin is a pressing concern in Taiwan. With the concerns of losing the rich linguistic and cultural assets of Taiwan's multilingual society, this study sets out to explore the language maintenance endeavours in primary schools, focusing on Daighi. Exploration of language attitudes is the angle this study adopts to approach language shift, looking specifically at whether language attitudes are promoted through the mandatory local languages class at primary school level. However, a large piece of the picture would be missed without the evaluation of the context, which is crucial to understand Daighi's position. Sociocultural theory is then adopted as an analytical lens to view teachers' practices as mediated actions, and to make visible the impact of context in Daighi maintenance. Interviews are used to explore the insights of the frontline Daighi teachers, and Daighi classes of these teachers are observed to investigate their practices, and to match these with their perceptions. In spite of the good teaching practices found at schools and attitudes to support language maintenance, there is still a gap in terms of actual language maintenance, which is defined as developing students to become functional bilinguals (Li Wei, 2006). It is possible that language maintenance is not best achieved by focusing on classroom practice alone. The Discussion Chapter then presents the mediators from global level, national level to classroom, students and teacher agency. Language policy, educational system, and perceived language attitudes of the government, local authority, school, colleagues, family and students emerge as influential mediators that contribute to the ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin. This study provides an analytical insight into Taiwanese local language education and language attitudes. Through engaging with the teachers, it also inspired critical reflections of their own practices. The findings of this study demonstrate an in-depth understanding of Daighi maint [...]
ABSTRACT Featuring a collection of newly commissioned essays, edited by two leading scholars, thi... more ABSTRACT Featuring a collection of newly commissioned essays, edited by two leading scholars, this Handbook surveys the key research findings in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). • Provides a state-of-the-art overview of the origins and evolution, current research, and future directions in ESP • Features newly-commissioned contributions from a global team of leading scholars • Explores the history of ESP and current areas of research, including speaking, reading, writing, technology, and business, legal, and medical English • Considers perspectives on ESP research such as genre, intercultural rhetoric, multimodality, English as a lingua franca and ethnography
Ta i l ori ng pres enta ti on materials in accordance with the dis cipline: A genre-ba s ed a ppr... more Ta i l ori ng pres enta ti on materials in accordance with the dis cipline: A genre-ba s ed a pproa ch Online Pre-sessional Courses Towards meaningful contextualization and process in the teaching of research skills in a changing EAP context 17:35 17:45 Understanding, thinking, meaning! What's on your mind? Social Networking for EAP students Technology tools for teaching English for Academic Purposes: empowering the next generation of tutors 19:30 18:55 19:05 An Introduction to Metrics in Academic Journals: From Writing to Ranking 18:10 18:30 Elephants in the design studio Getting them on boardeffective ways to use online discussions From an Italian contentoriented writing style to an English reader-oriented one: a cross-cultural approach to teaching EAP writing Using Google Sites to Support Teachers in Multiple Locations 'Customer expectations' and 'performance objectives': exploiting corpora to address the vocabulary needs of Business students. English Language Communication Skills for Study Encouraging mindful learning and selfdevelopment through reflection tasks in EAP Hasn't That Book Already Been Written? The Role of EAP in Improving the Student Experience in Higher Education One-to-one consultation practice-challenges from the landscape of a Sino-British University 11:10 Key Principles for Writing English Language Proficiency Test Questions Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation in university students' writing: Mapping the territories. Dynamic, collaborative and real-time: Using Google Drive for collaboration in academic writing Creative Approach to Language Teaching: Negotiating responsibilities in EAP classes A newbie's attempt to develop subject specific material using core texts and assignments Capitalizing on technology to promote learner autonomy in a writing course Producing EAP course materials for medical students Saving a sinking ship: how a Pre-sessional was redesigned to weather any storm Delivering the disciplinespecific pre-sessional that you are responsible for.
Improving postgraduate student writing in English is an ongoing concern in the increasingly inter... more Improving postgraduate student writing in English is an ongoing concern in the increasingly internationalised UK Higher Education context. Although the importance of feedback for developing academic writing skills is well-established (Hyland and Hyland 2006), there is still much debate about the components of effective feedback. In response to the call for research investigating teachers' real-world practices in giving feedback in specific contexts (Lee 2014 and 2012), this article presents an initiative to develop students' abilities to tackle written postgraduate writing (essays and dissertations) through collaborative on-line academic writing courses. The Grounded Theory-inspired study explores student perceptions of the effectiveness of online formative feedback on postgraduate academic writing in order to identify best practices which can contribute to developing skills in providing feedback. The study analyses tutor feedback on student texts and student responses to feedback. We applied categories which emerged from this data and concluded that the students we investigated had responded most positively when a combination of confidence-developing feedback practices were employed. These included both principled corrective language feedback and positive, personalised feedback on academic conventions and practices. This collaboration between academic writing and content specialists continues to provide further opportunities for embedding practices that encourage the development of academic writing skills on one year postgraduate programmes at the University of Edinburgh.
The need for MBA programmes to prepare managers for international business requires an internatio... more The need for MBA programmes to prepare managers for international business requires an international, interactive learning environment. This article considers the role of interactive lecturing styles within the context of the Edinburgh University MBA programme. A broad ethnographic perspective is adopted in order to provide`thick' description of the learning context. Illustrations are taken from ®ve dierent MBA classes of which three are core courses: Marketing, Economics and Statistics. The other two examples are from the second term options: Financial Institutions and Management of Technology. The examples show a variety of ways of including student oral participation within the lecture framework. Implications of this and future investigations of the MBA classroom for both EAP/ESP professionals and subject lecturers are considered.
Increasing globalisation has led to English becoming the lingua franca of international legal pra... more Increasing globalisation has led to English becoming the lingua franca of international legal practice requiring L2 legal professionals to develop high level skills in English thus creating significant challenges for language educators who may not have a background in law. ...
Ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin is a pressing concern in Taiwan. With the concerns o... more Ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin is a pressing concern in Taiwan. With the concerns of losing the rich linguistic and cultural assets of Taiwan's multilingual society, this study sets out to explore the language maintenance endeavours in primary schools, focusing on Daighi. Exploration of language attitudes is the angle this study adopts to approach language shift, looking specifically at whether language attitudes are promoted through the mandatory local languages class at primary school level. However, a large piece of the picture would be missed without the evaluation of the context, which is crucial to understand Daighi's position. Sociocultural theory is then adopted as an analytical lens to view teachers' practices as mediated actions, and to make visible the impact of context in Daighi maintenance. Interviews are used to explore the insights of the frontline Daighi teachers, and Daighi classes of these teachers are observed to investigate their practices, and to match these with their perceptions. In spite of the good teaching practices found at schools and attitudes to support language maintenance, there is still a gap in terms of actual language maintenance, which is defined as developing students to become functional bilinguals (Li Wei, 2006). It is possible that language maintenance is not best achieved by focusing on classroom practice alone. The Discussion Chapter then presents the mediators from global level, national level to classroom, students and teacher agency. Language policy, educational system, and perceived language attitudes of the government, local authority, school, colleagues, family and students emerge as influential mediators that contribute to the ongoing language shift to Taiwanese Mandarin. This study provides an analytical insight into Taiwanese local language education and language attitudes. Through engaging with the teachers, it also inspired critical reflections of their own practices. The findings of this study demonstrate an in-depth understanding of Daighi maint [...]
ABSTRACT Featuring a collection of newly commissioned essays, edited by two leading scholars, thi... more ABSTRACT Featuring a collection of newly commissioned essays, edited by two leading scholars, this Handbook surveys the key research findings in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). • Provides a state-of-the-art overview of the origins and evolution, current research, and future directions in ESP • Features newly-commissioned contributions from a global team of leading scholars • Explores the history of ESP and current areas of research, including speaking, reading, writing, technology, and business, legal, and medical English • Considers perspectives on ESP research such as genre, intercultural rhetoric, multimodality, English as a lingua franca and ethnography
Ta i l ori ng pres enta ti on materials in accordance with the dis cipline: A genre-ba s ed a ppr... more Ta i l ori ng pres enta ti on materials in accordance with the dis cipline: A genre-ba s ed a pproa ch Online Pre-sessional Courses Towards meaningful contextualization and process in the teaching of research skills in a changing EAP context 17:35 17:45 Understanding, thinking, meaning! What's on your mind? Social Networking for EAP students Technology tools for teaching English for Academic Purposes: empowering the next generation of tutors 19:30 18:55 19:05 An Introduction to Metrics in Academic Journals: From Writing to Ranking 18:10 18:30 Elephants in the design studio Getting them on boardeffective ways to use online discussions From an Italian contentoriented writing style to an English reader-oriented one: a cross-cultural approach to teaching EAP writing Using Google Sites to Support Teachers in Multiple Locations 'Customer expectations' and 'performance objectives': exploiting corpora to address the vocabulary needs of Business students. English Language Communication Skills for Study Encouraging mindful learning and selfdevelopment through reflection tasks in EAP Hasn't That Book Already Been Written? The Role of EAP in Improving the Student Experience in Higher Education One-to-one consultation practice-challenges from the landscape of a Sino-British University 11:10 Key Principles for Writing English Language Proficiency Test Questions Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation in university students' writing: Mapping the territories. Dynamic, collaborative and real-time: Using Google Drive for collaboration in academic writing Creative Approach to Language Teaching: Negotiating responsibilities in EAP classes A newbie's attempt to develop subject specific material using core texts and assignments Capitalizing on technology to promote learner autonomy in a writing course Producing EAP course materials for medical students Saving a sinking ship: how a Pre-sessional was redesigned to weather any storm Delivering the disciplinespecific pre-sessional that you are responsible for.
Improving postgraduate student writing in English is an ongoing concern in the increasingly inter... more Improving postgraduate student writing in English is an ongoing concern in the increasingly internationalised UK Higher Education context. Although the importance of feedback for developing academic writing skills is well-established (Hyland and Hyland 2006), there is still much debate about the components of effective feedback. In response to the call for research investigating teachers' real-world practices in giving feedback in specific contexts (Lee 2014 and 2012), this article presents an initiative to develop students' abilities to tackle written postgraduate writing (essays and dissertations) through collaborative on-line academic writing courses. The Grounded Theory-inspired study explores student perceptions of the effectiveness of online formative feedback on postgraduate academic writing in order to identify best practices which can contribute to developing skills in providing feedback. The study analyses tutor feedback on student texts and student responses to feedback. We applied categories which emerged from this data and concluded that the students we investigated had responded most positively when a combination of confidence-developing feedback practices were employed. These included both principled corrective language feedback and positive, personalised feedback on academic conventions and practices. This collaboration between academic writing and content specialists continues to provide further opportunities for embedding practices that encourage the development of academic writing skills on one year postgraduate programmes at the University of Edinburgh.
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