I was discussing the future of EAP with someone at the ESP day at the IATEFL conference recently. It is a complicated question as it depends on international politics and economics. For example, in the UK, the present visa policies and cost of university education and how they change in the future will affect everything connected with HE and therefore EAP. As well as this we need to consider the role of English in the world in the future, including the prevalence of English medium HE and international student mobility – see, for example, Breeze (2012), Jenkins (2014).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What about the role of English in the world?<\/p>\n
The overwhelming impression \u2026 must be that the language is alive and well, and that its global future is assured. (Crystal, 2003, p. 123)<\/p>\n
Traditionally, English has been taught as a foreign language in secondary schools, usually from the age of 11 or 12. This\u00a0approach allows only six years of learning before leaving secondary school or entering university, which would bring students to, at best, B1 (PET\/IELTS 4.0) by the end of their school lives.<\/p>\n
However, David Graddol predicts\u00a0a different scenario:<\/p>\n
in which learners begin in primary school, where they learn the basics of the language and then develop the use of English as a language of study in secondary school.\u00a0 (Graddol, 2006, p. 96.)<\/p>\n
This model generates a completely different outcome,\u00a0with students reaching C1 at the age of 13 or 14.<\/p>\n
Therefore as\u00a0English becomes the\u00a0second\u00a0language for the many of the world\u2019s primary schoolchildren, children will grow up\u00a0who do not need further English lessons\u00a0of the traditional kind. Indeed, many will\u00a0be expected to learn curriculum subjects\u00a0such as maths and science through the medium of English. And, as this generation of children moves through the education system, they will supplant their predecessors in secondary school who were only beginning their study of the language\u00a0(Graddol, 2006, p. 101).<\/p>\n
Consequently, teaching general English\u00a0in secondary school will fall away and\u00a0become the preserve of the remedial\u00a0teacher, helping students who cannot\u00a0manage in the mainstream classes to catch\u00a0up. English teaching for older learners\u00a0is likely to become focused on subject\u00a0specialisms. In this way, the pattern which\u00a0has only recently emerged in the world\u2019s\u00a0universities \u2013 which deliver an increasing\u00a0number of courses in English \u2013 is moving\u00a0down to secondary school level\u00a0(Graddol, 2006, p. 101).<\/p>\n
And this will result in:<\/p>\n
the end of ‘English as a Foreign Language’ (Graddol, 2006, p, 15)<\/p>\n
This would seem to have important consequences for EAP, especially in the UK, with students entering with a higher level of general English, and even higher levels of general EAP, but having\u00a0more specific language needs. This would mean that the teenage market, general foundation courses and general pre-sessional courses would decline. This would not mean that ELT\/EAP in UK will come to an end, but\u00a0the nature of the business is changing. The future of ELT seems to be merged with mainstream\u00a0education – EAP – in which students learn the academic language at the same time as learning the subjects – CBI (See: Brinton, Snow & Wesche, 1989).<\/p>\n
There is also relevance for teachers:<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s complex and globalising\u00a0world, well-trained, multilingual and\u00a0culturally sophisticated teachers are\u00a0needed to teach learners of English. … It is time for those involved in the ELT\u00a0profession to resist the employment of untrained native speaker teachers (Andy Kirkpatrick, cited in Graddol, 2006, p. 121).<\/p>\n
The practice of\u00a0\u00a0EAP seem to be going off in two directions, now. Which one will succeed? On the one hand there is the focus on EGAP, promoted, for, example, by the large international publishers and their multi-level EAP course book series. There is nothing new here: in the 1970s, OUP had the English in Focus<\/em> series, in the 1980s was the Collins Study Skills<\/em> series, and the CUP EAP<\/em> series.\u00a0These were followed by Phoenix: English for Academic Study<\/em>series, developed at the University of Reading in the in 1990s. The availability of these materials meant that specifically trained EAP teachers are not needed as long as the teachers can use a textbook. There is probably a future for these series, but – if Graddol is right – not at universities.<\/p>\n On the other hand we can still see a real focus on the specific needs of students as demonstrated by journals such as JEAP<\/em> and English for Specific Purposes<\/em> as well as conference such as the BALEAP biennial conference and the regular PIMs.This is complicated, though, as teachers working in this way need a sophisticated knowledge of EAP language and practices. Again, if Graddol is right, this is the future and EAP needs to take it seriously with such projects as the BALEAP Teacher Competencies<\/a> research.<\/p>\n If Graddol is right, then there will be little need for the big course-book series in the UK and much more interest in narrow specifically designed courses meeting individual student needs. This will mean more CPD and EAP teacher education. References<\/strong><\/p>\n Breeze, R. (2012). Rethinking academic writing pedagogy for the European university.<\/em> Amsterdam: Rodopi.<\/p>\n Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language<\/i> (2nd edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n Graddol, D. (2006). English next.<\/i> London: British Council.<\/p>\n Jenkins, J. (2014). English as a lingua franca in the international university: The politics of academic English language policy<\/em>. London: Routledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was discussing the future of EAP with someone at the ESP day at the IATEFL conference recently. It is a complicated question as it depends on international politics and economics. For example, in the UK, the present visa policies … Continue reading
\nAnother trend in the UK which will probably continue is the merging of EAP (for international students) with academic skills\/support centres aimed at home students.
\nWith regard to English-medium universities worldwide, it will be interesting to see what role English will play and the which models of accuracy will be expected (Jenkins, 2014, pp. 206-210).<\/p>\n