BC TEAL Journal

An Apology for EGAP: The Benefits of a General Approach to English for Academic Purposes in Canadian Post-Secondary Contexts

Paul Anthony Marshall — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0800

A wide range of English for academic purposes (EAP) programs are offered in British Columbia and across Canada. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of an English for general academic purposes (EGAP) approach can provide important insights into how students might most benefit from their EAP program experiences. The insights in this article are based on a review of the literature related to EGAP in the Canadian context, with nine key sources informing an argument in favour of the general academic and holistic benefits that are often the focus of EGAP programs. It argues that that the benefits provided by discipline-specific input, terminology, and tasks characteristic of an English for specific academic purposes (ESAP) approach, while useful, should not take priority over student wellbeing. In Canadian post-secondary settings, overall student wellbeing should be a key priority, and this priority can be achieved much more holistically by providing support of a cultural-, community-, campus-, and socio-emotional- nature. These are components typically present in many EGAP courses, but less typically emphasized in an ESAP approach.

Service Learning, Cultural Humility, and Language Instruction: Being in Community

Katie Crossman, Jason Andrews, Iftu Hargaaya, Rida Abboud — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0800

To address linguistic, social, and settlement needs among professional and highly educated newcomer language learners in Canada, a Service Learning program was established at an urban community college. It incorporated field-specific language instruction, cultural humility and intercultural communication training, and meaningful Service Learning placements with local organizations. Using a participatory action research approach, co-design, and developmental evaluation, a case study of the course’s development, delivery, and short-term impacts was conducted. This paper highlights key findings from that case study. Data were collected from surveys, focus groups, and reflections over the course of two pilot offerings with 27 learners. Using an inductive approach to qualitative data analysis, broad themes were identified. In this paper, the findings are grouped into four main themes: language development, settlement needs, cultural humility, and personal transformation. To conclude, barriers, facilitators, and recommendations are discussed with the goal of highlighting the challenges and celebrations of Service Learning for newcomer language learners.

Supporting EAL Secondary Students in Thinking Critically about Online Information

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Evaluating the credibility of online information, a key component of digital literacy, is challenging for secondary students because they often rely on superficial strategies that do little to help them differentiate between information and disinformation. For example, our research has shown that students are prone to believe sites that appear professional but are in fact of a more nefarious nature (e.g., fake news sites designed to intentionally deceive). For this Description of Classroom Practices report, we describe a series of six lessons that we designed with secondary EAL teachers that help students think critically about online information while supporting their growth as additional language learners. We found that the lessons helped students evaluate the credibility of online sources holistically by evaluating within and across content, source, and context. After reporting the students’ overall positive comments about the materials, we describe their favourite activity in more detail with scaffolding suggestions.