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Title
Learner/teacher autonomy in EFL curriculum design: the challenge for EAP language support.
Presenter
Dr. Lorna Carson
Abstract:
The numbers of international students registering to study abroad have increased at an astonishing rate in recent years. The author¡'s university, Trinity College Dublin, now hosts some 16% registered students (UG & PG) who hail from outside the Irish state; 6% of its students originate from beyond the European Union; at postgraduate level, international students are often in the majority on taught Masters programmes. The diverse language needs of international students are well-documented (e.g. McNamara & Harris; 1997; Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001); however, the needs and roles of teachers in university pre-sessional and in-sessional EFL/EAP support has received less attention in the research community to date.
This paper investigates the particular needs and context of university language support within a language learner/teacher autonomy model (Little, 2007; Aoki, 2002, 2008) with close reference to research and development work conducted at the Centre for Language and Communication Studies (CLCS). She argues that teachers as well as learners are victims of the hidden curriculum of both the university lecture theatre and the EFL classroom in reproducing unspoken and unchallenged norms and expectations.
The paper presents an innovative curriculum model developed by CLCS which fosters language learner/teacher autonomy in the classroom and moves away from a 'one-size-fits-all' reproduction of EFL/EAP programmes, allowing teachers and learners to negotiate a task-based, portfolio-mediated curriculum which corresponds both to learners¡' and teachers' needs and goals.
References
Aoki, N. (2002). Aspects of teacher autonomy: capacity, freedom and responsibility. In P. Benson & S. Toogood (Eds.), Learner autonomy 7: challenges to research and practice. Dublin: Authentik.
Aoki, N. (2008). Teacher stories to improve theories of learner/teacher autonomy. Independence (43), 15-17.
Flowerdew, J., & Peacock, M. (2001). Research perspectives on English for academic purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Little, D. (2007). Language Learner Autonomy: Some Fundamental Considerations Revisited. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 14-29.
McNamara, D., & Harris, R. (1997). Overseas students in higher education: issues in teaching and learning. London: Routledge.
Biodata
Lorna Carson is Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin, where her teaching focuses on Second Language Curriculum Design and Language Testing. She is also Coordinator of the university¡¯s institution-wide language programme. Her research interests include language learner autonomy, particularly with reference to classroom practice, the European Language Portfolio/Common European Framework of Reference, and multilingualism.
contact asian_efl_journal@yahoo.com
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