- Title
- The application and relationships of the academic cultures in EAP and post-graduate business studies
- Creator
- Houshi Deghati Fouman, Sara
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- This study explores how academic culture is constructed in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and post-graduate Business studies and examines the transition needs of international students moving from EAP to their post-graduate Business studies. Given the number of international students and their contribution to the Australian socio-economic development, it is important for the host universities to cater for international students’ needs and facilitate their transition to Australian academic life to ensure a positive study experience, improve retention and sustain growth. In response, a number of higher education institutions now offer EAP to support international students with language challenges. However, this intervention concentrates on equipping learners with generic language and study skills, disregards the diversity of genres across disciplines, ignores the complexity of literacy practices and downplays the role of EAP. This casts doubt on the true value of current EAP programs support for international students and the purposes they serve. While international students’ challenges in host institutions have been investigated for three decades, and there are studies on the effectiveness of EAP, research has neither sufficiently focused on the transition experience of international students from EAP to their degree programs nor considered the complexity of transitioning to higher education. Accordingly, research in this area is critical for Australian universities to improve their current pedagogies and practices to better accommodate international students. This study adopted a qualitative interpretivist lens focusing on the case study of the Language Centre at the University of Newcastle, Sydney campus. Employing Lea and Street's academic literacies model (1998), this research investigated the academic literacy practices in the EAP and post-graduate Business programs, explored the participants’ perceptions of the academic culture, and examined their lived teaching and learning experiences. To this end, data were collected from semi-structured interviews with the EAP teachers and Business academics, from focus group interviews with EAP and post-graduate Business students, and EAP and Business course documents. Findings indicate the EAP program aimed at developing students’ linguistic proficiency while providing them with generic academic skills. The EAP syllabus incorporated activities targeting reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills together with tasks designed to improve students’ academic skills including referencing, paraphrasing and note taking. This reflects the study-skills approach of EAP centring around teaching decontextualised language skills and echoes the underlying notion that there is a homogeneous academic culture into which students can be socialised. Such an approach assumes that the general language and academic skills learnt in EAP are applicable to other educational contexts The data show that EAP was perceived as a useful pedagogical intervention that assisted students’ academic transition. Nonetheless, the student participants demonstrated a lack of understanding of disciplinary literacy practices and conventions when they transitioned into their degree program. They expected to enhance their disciplinary knowledge and believed it was important to incorporate discipline-specific language and literacy practices in EAP but, on the whole, these expectations were unfulfilled. This suggests that there is disparity between EAP classroom practices and the best practice recommended by English Australia for direct entry programs. The findings show that the EAP teachers have little disciplinary knowledge themselves and although they would prefer to work more closely with subject specialists, they have limited collaboration opportunities with the Business faculty, due the pressure to cover an extensive curriculum in a limited time. The data demonstrate that different academic skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving or analysis, are defined, taught, and assessed differently in different disciplines or subject areas. As such, the academic skills students developed in EAP do not necessarily align with what is expected of them in their degree programs. This study reveals that the generic provision of EAP, which dismisses the complexity and specificity of literacy, fails to adequately meet students’ transitional needs, or prepare them for tertiary studies. Instead, it proposes a more discipline-specific support that acknowledges the significance of disciplinary culture in pedagogical practices. To this effect, it is necessary that faculties and ELICOS colleges at universities begin a partnership where EAP and subject specialists collaborate closely to provide students with authentic and aligned academic literacy and language support. This research adds to the under-researched area of EAP- to- university transition, benefitting higher education institutions and ELICOS colleges by providing insights into international students’ transition experiences. The findings contribute to EAP pedagogy by supporting the transition from the provision of generic study skill to the provision of those skills required to analytically engage with literacy practices. Suggestions made on how higher education institutions can optimise international students’ academic transition and recommendations for future research are identified.
- Subject
- academic culture; academic literacies; international students' acculturation; business discipline; post-graduate business studies; work culture; EGAP; ESAP; generis study skills; generic skills; discipline-specific literacies; EAP-Post-graduate-transition; EAP; literacy practices; ELICOS; English for academic puposes; academic literacies model; study skills model; academic socialiasation model; international students' transitional needs; international students' academic challenges; university culture
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1477574
- Identifier
- uon:50002
- Rights
- Copyright 2023 Sara Houshi Deghati Fouman
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 4 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 311 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |