Thursday, October 26, 2017

Textbook in EAP (English for Academic Purposes)

Today, at the library of Griffith College Dublin, which has a very good English section - containing as it does diverse materials on aspects of learning English as a Foreign Language, learning General English, Business English, examination English (IELTS, Cambridge etc.) and English for Special Purposes (ESP)/English for Academic Purposes (EAP), together with Graded Readers of such classic English literary works as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and many complete, unabridged English novels and anthologies together with a section on literary criticism - I located a very good course book which will prove useful in teaching the Academic English (EAP) modules here at Griffith, viz. a book entitled English for academic study: Extended Writing and Research Skills Course Book by McCormack and Slaght, published in 2005 (revised most recently in 2009) by the University of Reading's Centre for Applied Language Studies and Garnet Education, Reading. 
For my purposes, the most immediate benefit to be derived from this course book is that its chapter on Introductions, conclusions and definitions (Chapter 6) contains many valuable exercises on analyzing sample introductions and conclusions to actual student essays and projects at the University of Reading, and on helping students to write their own introductions and endings on a trial basis, preparatory to their writing their own essays and other assignments in academic English at Griffith. 
Today, I met the Head of English at Griffith College, Clare Watson, for the first time. Clare is from Durham and has most recently lectured in EAP at the University of Glasgow, prior to taking up her current post at Griffith College, where she co-ordinates the Griffith Institute of Language (GIL) for all three campuses of the college, viz. Dublin, Cork and Limerick. 
So far, I'm really enjoying Griffith College. Tomorrow I'm due to teach a class on using features of academic prose (such as the passive voice, linking words etc.) in practical exercise-type applications. Next week, we are due to look at the features of Introductions and Conclusions before then going on to put them into practice using the above course book materials. 

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