News

ISSN Number

2632-6779 (Print)  

2633-6898 (Online)

Abstracting/Indexing/Listing

Scopus

Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory (ProQuest)

MLA International Bibliography

MLA Directory of Periodicals

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

QOAM (Quality Open Access Market)

British National Bibliography

WAC Clearinghouse Journal Listings

EBSCO Education

ICI Journals Master List

ERIH PLUS

CNKI Scholar

Gale-Cengage

WorldCat

Crossref

Baidu Scholar

British Library

J-Gate

ROAD

BASE

Publons

Google Scholar

Semantic Scholar

ORE Directory

TIRF

China National Center for Philosophy and Social Sciences Documentation

 

Home Journal Index 2020-2

Responding to COVID-19 in EAP Contexts: A Comparison of Courses at Four Sino-Foreign Universities

Download Full PDF

Joseph Arthur Davies
Duke Kunshan University, China


Laura Jane Davies
Duke Kunshan University, China


Brandon Conlon
New York University Shanghai, China


Jamie Emerson
University of Nottingham Ningbo, China


Hannah Hainsworth
University of Nottingham Ningbo, China


Hugh Gregory McDonough
Lancaster University, UK


Abstract
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact upon education across multiple sectors, fields and disciplines. Campus closures, strict self-isolation and physical distancing measures require educators to rethink all aspects of course delivery. In response, many institutions have transformed face-to-face learning to online delivery at extremely short notice. Furthermore, for institutions delivering transnational English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) education, the pandemic poses significant challenges for providing effective English for Academic Purposes (EAP) support. This paper aims to contribute towards the ongoing discussion related to COVID-19’s impact on English language teaching. Specifically, the paper presents a reflective overview of how five individual EAP courses across four Sino-foreign universities based in China, and at the forefront of the global COVID-19 pandemic, responded to this crisis. To provide a variety of contingency models, EAP courses at two Sino-US and two Sino-UK universities at different stages of development are discussed.Through reflection and comparison, areas of good practice and the key challenges faced when transforming EAP courses from face-to-face to online delivery are discussed. All five EAP courses are compared using interaction, learner autonomy, feedback, and leadership and institutional support as key themes. The paper also presents practical implications drawn from the shared experiences of EAP practitioners from all four Sino-foreign universities. Ultimately, the paper aims to share the lessons learned by EAP practitioners to support those who may be required to make similar adjustments to their course delivery both within and beyond EAP teaching contexts.


Keywords
COVID-19, English for academic purposes, online instruction, pedagogy, sino-foreign universities,
teaching English as a second or foreign language