Title of Project : Exploring EAP Teachers’ Attitudes and Beliefs in Handling Feedback on Academic Writing in the UK and Syria
Project Description :
The UK is considered as a leader in the field of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) education and has the only specialised organization for the teaching of EAP in the world: BALEAP (British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes). The courses accredited via the BALEAP Scheme include the EAP writing courses that the researcher would like to examine in more detail. By researchingthe feedback on writing given by EAP teachers, the writer would like to investigate whether there are any kind of differences amongst UK and Syrian EAP writing teachers about what constitutes ‘best practice’ for providing feedback on written work.
Worldwide, a lot of research has been carried out to explore the teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, assumptions and perceptions in the EFL classroom. However, in the Syrian Higher Education context no study has ever tried to probe into the beliefs teachers bring to the classroom, or ascertain the extent to which these beliefs affect their practices in giving feedback on their students’ academic writing. We do not as yet have a body of empirical evidence to show if there is agreement amongst British EAP lecturers as to what constitutes 'good feedback practice' and such research is definitely lacking in Syria. There have been considerable advances in terms of standardisation of marking in Higher Education (HE) but this is often with regard to the assessment (or grading) of the final product. What the researcher is interested in is how feedback is given during the formative, process part of the learners' writing career.
The writer is conducting research into ESOL teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in handling feedback on academic writing in the UK and Syria. The overall aim and purpose of the research is to establish what differences there are in the handling of feedback in these different teachers groups (British and Syrian) and, if differences are shown, the extent to which they may be explained by a socio-cultural analysis of both societies as clearly all education has its roots in society at large.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help further your studies and career opportunities, please contact us.
The UK is considered as a leader in the field of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) education and has the only specialised organization for the teaching of EAP in the world: BALEAP (British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes). The courses accredited via the BALEAP Scheme include the EAP writing courses that the researcher would like to examine in more detail. By researching the feedback on writing given by EAP teachers, the writer would like to investigate whether there are any kind of differences amongst UK and Syrian EAP writing teachers about what constitutes ‘best practice’ for providing feedback on written work.
Worldwide, a lot of research has been carried out to explore the teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, assumptions and perceptions in the EFL classroom. However, in the Syrian Higher Education context no study has ever tried to probe into the beliefs teachers bring to the classroom, or ascertain the extent to which these beliefs affect their practices in giving feedback on their students’ academic writing. We do not as yet have a body of empirical evidence to show if there is agreement amongst British EAP lecturers as to what constitutes 'good feedback practice' and such research is definitely lacking in Syria. There have been considerable advances in terms of standardisation of marking in Higher Education (HE) but this is often with regard to the assessment (or grading) of the final product. What the researcher is interested in is how feedback is given during the formative, process part of the learners' writing career.
The writer is conducting research into ESOL teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in handling feedback on academic writing in the UK and Syria. The overall aim and purpose of the research is to establish what differences there are in the handling of feedback in these different teachers groups (British and Syrian) and, if differences are shown, the extent to which they may be explained by a socio-cultural analysis of both societies as clearly all education has its roots in society at large.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help further your studies and career opportunities, please contact us.