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This article was downloaded by: [Northwestern University] On: 17 December 2014, At: 23:27 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Teaching in Higher Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cthe20 Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey Yasemin Kırkgöz a a Çukurova University , Published online: 14 Jan 2009. To cite this article: Yasemin Kırkgöz (2009) Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey, Teaching in Higher Education, 14:1, 81-93, DOI: 10.1080/13562510802602640 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510802602640 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

This article was downloaded by: [Northwestern University]On: 17 December 2014, At: 23:27Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Teaching in Higher EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cthe20

Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions ofthe effectiveness of foreign languageinstruction in an English-mediumuniversity in TurkeyYasemin Kırkgöz a

a Çukurova University ,Published online: 14 Jan 2009.

To cite this article: Yasemin Kırkgöz (2009) Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of theeffectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey, Teaching inHigher Education, 14:1, 81-93, DOI: 10.1080/13562510802602640

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510802602640

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreignlanguage instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

Yasemin Kırkgoz*

Cukurova University

This study reports the perceptions of students and lecturers on the effectiveness ofthe foreign language instruction in relation to students’ academic needs in anEnglish-medium university in Turkey. The theoretical framework of the studydraws upon a discourse community (DC) perspective, which considers writing asa socio-cultural practice and takes a work-embedded nature to reading. Fifteenlecturers and 220 students participated in a target situation needs assessment toidentify students’ academic needs, their perception of difficulties in meeting thoseneeds, and the extent of the relevance of the students’ previous languageinstruction in meeting their academic needs.The findings reveal that a skills-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum remains inadequate inpreparing students effectively for the academic requirements. Multi-dimensionalnature of needs analysis is highlighted, and several innovative suggestions areproposed within the DC framework to improve the EAP curriculum.

Keywords: multi-dimensional needs assessment; EAP; writing as a social practice;work-embedded reading; frame of reference

Introduction

Turkey, as many other non-English speaking countries e.g. China, has responded to the

global impact of English as the language of international communication, the language

of business, technology, and science by introducing English-medium education (EME)

at Higher Education with the establishment of such universities as the Middle Eastern

Technical University (METU) in 1956. As the demand for an English-medium

university education has increased, the issue of EME and questions related to effective

learning of one’s professional knowledge have constituted an important part of the

planning of education policy in Turkey. Following the policy statement issued by

the Turkish Higher Education Council in 1996, each university providing an EME, was

required to establish a foreign language centre, which would offer a one-year English

for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum to students whose English proficiency was

insufficient to enable them to pursue their English-medium classes.

Given the fact that increasing numbers of undergraduate students prefer to study

in English-medium rather than Turkish, and a large number of students receive an

EAP programme due to inadequacy in their level of English proficiency, it is

important to identify the efficacy of receiving EAP instruction to one’s higher

education in the medium of English. If, for example, EAP curriculum designers are

informed about the academic needs of students, and the perceived effectiveness of the

*Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1356-2517 print/ISSN 1470-1294 online

# 2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/13562510802602640

http://www.informaworld.com

Teaching in Higher Education

Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2009, 81�93

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Page 3: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

EAP curriculum, based on the views of students who are currently registered to such

programmes, and those of the lecturers, they can then design English language

instruction accordingly. It is, therefore, important to recognise that needs analysis of

the students’ academic context provides a basis for evaluating the extent of the

effectiveness of an EAP curriculum in meeting students’ academic needs and

providing valuable data for the curriculum development process (West 1994).

The context

The study was conducted at Cukurova University, which offers English-medium

instruction in three faculties. In the Department of Economics and Business

Administration (DECOBA) at least 40% of the courses are delivered in English;

the Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Electrics-Electronics Engineering (EEE)

Departments offer all their courses in English. The Centre for Foreign Languages

(CFL), established to meet the English language requirements of the university,

provides a one-year EAP curriculum. In this respect, CFL has undertaken a

mediating role in initiating students into their respective English-medium depart-

ments. The curriculum offers integrated skills practice, using a series of commercially

available course-books, supported by additional teaching materials (Kırkgoz 2006).

The prevailing institutional assumption about a skills-based curriculum remains

vested in the notion that skills acquired will be transferable to the academia.

This study challenges such conventional thinking to skills-based EAP curriculum

design and presents a discourse community (DC) perspective, which takes a social

constructivist view to writing, work-embedded practice to reading, and emphasising

the need to initiate students through various practices before they become members

of their academic discourse community (ADC), to argue that the former limits our

understanding of the nature of language and communication practices in disciplin-

ary communities.

Theoretical framework

The notion of academic discourse community

In this study, the concept of DC provides a conceptual framework for investigating

the social practices that determine students’ academic needs, and providing a basis

for discussing and analysing the data. As Woodward-Kron (2004), noted without

adequate means of conceptualising a DC, course designers risk making connections

about students’ disciplinary practices, e.g. reading and writing for specific disciplin-

ary contexts.

Swales (1990) describes a DC as a group of individuals that have broadly agreed

common goals, and a system of communication to achieve these goals. Members of a

DC share the knowledge of a discipline through the resources of a specialised

language. A DC possesses genres, e.g. professional journals, which ‘package

information in ways that conform to a discipline’s norms and values’ (Berkenkotter

and Huckin 1993, 476). It has expert members and novices entering the community.

A suitable level of shared knowledge, specialised discourse competence, and

familiarity with conventions of a DC is expected from the new members so that

they can effectively participate in the practices of the community (Swales 1990).

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Based on the above-mentioned characteristics, each academic discipline, within

the context of this study, will be considered an ADC, which has chosen English as

the medium of instruction, through which disciplinary knowledge is conveyed.

Within each ADC, lecturers have responsibility for transmitting professionalknowledge to students. Textbooks and journal articles are the main sources of

written genres students are expected to consult; whilst lectures constitute the main

spoken genres, which mediate the in-flow of information. Becoming an acceptable

member of an ADC requires an understanding of particular discipline-specific

conventions unanimously agreed by community members, and discourse features

including subject-specific lexis, so that new members may communicate with experts

on the basis of shared level of understanding.

The following section focuses on the nature of writing and reading, as practicedwithin an ADC.

Writing as a social practice

Writing, practiced within a specific ADC, will be viewed as a contextualised social

practice (Bizzell 1982, 1992; Coffin et al. 2003; Carry and Lillis 2003; Lea and Street

2000; Lillis 2001), reflecting the reality, knowledge, conventions of academia (Swales

1990), rather than merely a transferable skill due to the following reasons noted by

Carry and Lillis (2003):

First, within the social constructivist framework, student writing is embedded

within relationships around teaching and learning, which influence the extent to

which students come to write successfully. Second, the conventions governing whatconstitutes appropriate academic writing are social to the extent that ‘these have

developed within specific academic disciplinary communities over time as a social

practice’ (Carry and Lillis 2003, 11). Third, student writing is a social practice in that

students, as writers, are learning not only to communicate in particular ways, but are

learning how to take on a new social identity, i.e. to write as engineers or economists.

Considered within the above framework, becoming a member of an ADC requires

more than learning the basic writing skills. It requires students’ familiarity with the

social dimensions of writing to ensure that their writings can be consistent with theconventions of a DC (Bizzell 1982), and meet the expectations of lecturers. Thus,

student writers need to be supported to familiarise them with writing conventions

involved in different genres, i.e. reports, projects, as each requires different writing

and thinking skills before being initiated into their respective ADC (Creme and Lea

2001) to ‘ensure that their writing falls within . . . (the) range of acceptable writing

behaviours dictated by the academic community’ (Horowitz 1986, 789).

Work-embedded reading

Kırkgoz (1999), based on an investigation conducted in an English-medium

university in Turkey, describes the kind of reading practiced as work-embedded

reading (WER), which is associated with the requirements of the academiccommunity to perform an identifiable task, i.e. writing a report, the conventions

for which exist in ADC. Since the reading in question is initiated by a given task, it is

purposeful in nature, and requires an effective access to the specialised information

in the texts that students have to consult. Although reading is a personal matter,

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individual reading is embedded in communally recognised practices since knowledge

and texts are constructs generated by community members sharing common ideas.

Based on this notion, efficient access to disciplinary information requires more

than ordinary reading skills; it requires a WER approach in which reading texts and

tasks replicate those which students face in academic classes, encouraging students to

build repertoires of appropriate discourse processing strategies.

Shared frame of reference

WER also requires that the students have shared frame of reference, i.e. the ability to

share meanings with authors of the texts on the topics of their specialist discipline to

enable them to engage in discourse with the authors of the texts. As Northedge

(2003) remarks:

it is through repeatedly sharing in meaning making with speakers of the specialistdiscourse that students come to internalise the frames of reference which are taken forgranted within the knowledge community. (173)

Frame of reference is not limited to reading; it also includes writing, lectures and

conversations. Being a member of a community requires an ability to share frames of

reference in conversation with lecturers. Likewise, learners need to have the capacity

to frame and generate specialist meaning in their writings to the extent that these are

shared and accepted by members of their ADC.

It may therefore be argued that the acquisition of ‘shared frame of reference’ that

is essential to become an effective member of a DC to conduct one’s undergraduate

studies in an English-medium university in an English as a Second Language (ESL)/

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, requires more than the ability to read

and write effectively. The writing and reading practiced in a typical skills-building

programme, as in CFL, particularly for students beyond the beginner level of

proficiency, is unlikely to help learners handle the actual requirements of their

disciplinary courses, because the conventions governing what counts as academic

reading and writing are assumed to be part of the ‘common sense’ knowledge

students have and are thus not explicitly taught within the EAP programme.

Acquisition of a range of skills forms only the foundation for the academic literacy.

To build upon this foundation, students must adapt to both the academic and social

culture of their respective ADC. As stated by Northedge (2003, 171), learning in an

English-medium DC can be seen as a process of acquiring the capacity to participate

in the specialist discourse of a knowledge community.

Target situation needs assessment

Several studies were conducted to the nature of academic conventions through

various needs assessments. The underlying reason for needs analysis is that by

identifying elements of students’ target needs and using them as the basis of EAP/

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instruction, students will be provided with the

requirements of their disciplinary courses. Without such investigations, curriculum

developers often tend to intuit the future needs of the students, which may result in

limited success.

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Page 6: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

Many studies focused on determining students’ target needs; for example, Ferris

(1998) surveyed the views of university professors on the difficulties that L2 students

experience with listening and speaking tasks. In addition, there were surveys

conducted to identify university students’ academic writing tasks (Johns 1981; Kroll1979). Another study by Horowitz (1986) analysed university writing assignments to

pinpoint what is required in the process of completing assignments with resulting

implications to designing an EAP curriculum. In the same vein, studies were

conducted to ascertain perceptions of L2 students about the importance of language

skills and classroom tasks (Christison and Krahnke 1986; Ferris 1998). Adopting a

‘social-contextual approach’, Bizzell (1982) attempted to familiarise basic writers

with the convention of an academic discourse, emphasising what it is that students

must learn to become a member of target community through a process of initiation.

Identifying learners’ lexical needs has been another notable area of growth in

needs analysis. Developments in the use of computers have enabled compiling a

corpus of texts, as a valuable source of information for identifying the lexical needs

of learners and developing language teaching materials (Kırkgoz 2006).

This study is an insightful application of the target needs assessment to the

specific context of the research, a Turkish university. It aims to identify the students’

target academic requirements from ‘multi-dimensions’, i.e. lecturers and first-year

undergraduate students, and relate them to the perceptions of students and lecturersin order to evaluate the effectiveness of the English language instruction that the

students previously received in relation to meeting their target academic needs.

The study is guided by the following questions:

1. What are the first-year undergraduate students’ perceptions of their academic

task requirements in their English-medium classes and the difficulties they

encounter in meeting those requirements?

2. What are the first-year undergraduate students’ perceptions of the effective-

ness of the EAP curriculum in preparing them effectively for their English-

medium classes?

3. What are the requirements of the lecturers from the students in their courses

and their perceptions of the students’ performances in relation to theserequirements?

Methods

Target situation needs assessment was conducted with first-year undergraduate

students (N�220) who were pursuing their studies in their respective departments of

the university offering English-medium instruction after completing the one-year

EAP programme, and 15 lecturers teaching subject courses, employing question-naires and interviews.

Interviews and questionnaires with students

A questionnaire was designed to obtain information on:

1. the frequency of the various academic tasks the students are required to carry

out; and

2. their perceived effectiveness in meeting those requirements.

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Page 7: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

The design of the questionnaire was informed from needs analyses conducted

previously (Kırkgoz 1999), and from Ferris (1998) to suit the local context. The 19-

item survey questionnaire comprised statements concerning various academic tasks,

focusing on each of the macro-skill areas (listening, speaking, reading and writing,

respectively) which the students are currently expected to fulfil in their academic

departments. Students had to indicate their answers on a four-point Likert scale, on

which value 1 represented ‘never’, and value 4 ‘always’. In the part of the

questionnaire inquiring about students’ perceived effectiveness in meeting those

requirements, participants were asked to indicate their perceptions on a four-point

Likert scale, on which value 1 represented ‘not effective at all’, and value 4 ‘very

effective’. Each section of the questionnaire also included an open-ended question,

where respondents were invited to write additional comments. Questionnaires were

administered towards the end of the academic year to ensure that the students were

fully familiar with the requirements of their academic departments.

As a follow-up to questionnaires, I conducted semi-structured interviews with

volunteer students (N�120) across the three English-medium departments to

discuss their experiences in university classes and express the perceived effectiveness

of the EAP curriculum.

Interviews with faculty lecturers

Survey findings were complemented by interviews with lecturers (N�15) teaching

subject courses to the first-year students, of whom four were from the ME, five from

the EEE and six from DECOBA. The questions in the interview focused on what

kinds of tasks/projects the lecturers required from the students and how the students

performed in relation to these requirements.

Data analysis

The interviews were recorded, transcribed and then translated in L2. Data were

analysed qualitatively through a process of pattern-coding (Miles and Huberman

1994) to find the recurrent themes. Data from the 220 completed questionnaires were

analysed through the computation of descriptive statistics, except hand-written

comments which were also subject to content analysis.

The following sections present findings from the target situation assessment in

line with each research question addressed.

Discussion of findings

Expected academic tasks requirements in English-medium academic classes, and

students’ perceptions of their own difficulties in meeting those requirements

Table 1 shows the most frequently required academic tasks in the three departments,

based on the overall frequencies in response to 19 survey items, of which 10 were

found to be high in frequency. Of the 220 students who responded to the survey

questionnaire, 62 were from EEE, 78 from ME, and 80 from DECOBA, representing

a fairly even student spread across the three departments.

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Page 8: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

As seen in Table 1, approximately, 95.4% of the respondents reported that

following the lecturer’s instructions during the academic classes was a regular

requirement (80% always or 15.4% often). In a lecture, students were expected to do

note-taking and writing summaries using notes (6.8% often and 75% always).

Concerning speaking, 81.8% of the students reported that they were required to

participate in class discussions by asking and answering questions (30% always or

51.8% often) and 80.9% expressing opinions (20% always and 60.9% often).As far as reading is concerned, the results show that all departments require

students to read various publications � textbooks, articles and lecture notes � on a

topic to express their own opinion effectively (22% often and 70% always), and guess

the meanings of unfamiliar words from the context (67.2% always or 20% often). Not

surprisingly, social science majors needed relatively stronger English language skills

in reading a variety of texts on a topic to express their own meaning.

The major writing requirements that students were required to produce were

answering examination questions (86.3% always and 8.1% often), summary writing

(72.7% always and 3.6% often), and integrating information from different sources into

different writings, e.g. project writing (62.7% always and 33.6% often). In addition,

the students in ME and EEE were expected to write laboratory reports (10% always

and 36.3% often).

The students’ assessment of their perceptions of effectiveness in meeting the

requirements of the 10 most frequently used academic tasks revealed a gap between

their present language performance and that required to fulfil them effectively. Fifty-

five percent of the students’ perceived effectiveness in following the lecturer’s

instructions was somewhat effective. The students’ perceived effectiveness in

Table 1. Students’ responses on required academic tasks.

Always Often Sometimes Never

Academic tasks requirements No. % No. % No. % No. %

Following the lecturer’s instructions

during the lesson

176 80 34 15.4 10 4.6 � �

Note-taking in a lecture and summary

writing using notes

165 75 15 6.8 33 15 7 3.2

Asking and answering questions

during lectures

66 30 114 51.8 28 12.7 12 5.5

Expressing opinions during class

discussions

44 20 134 60.9 26 11.8 14 7.3

Reading various texts on a topic to

express one’s own opinion

154 70 22 10 39 17.8 5 2.2

Guessing the meanings of unfamiliar

words from the context

148 67.2 44 20 8 3.6 20 9.2

Summarising a text 160 72.7 8 3.6 40 18.1 12 5.6

Answering exam questions 190 86.3 18 8.1 12 5.6 � �Writing a project on a topic

incorporating ideas from

various sources

138 62.7 74 33.6 3 1.3 5 2.4

Report writing 22 10 80 36.3 34 16.5 82 37.2

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Page 9: Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey

answering examination questions ranged between 18% somewhat and 68% quite

effective. Although writing an essay on a topic incorporating ideas from different

sources and writing a summary of an article were required often, the students

perceived themselves somewhat effective. Most students (78%) reported that their

effectiveness in participating in class discussions was low (68% somewhat effective

and 10% not effective). Students’ handwritten comments revealed that insufficient

practice in speaking, and lack of confidence in their speaking abilities inhibited

students’ class participation and interaction with lecturers.

Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the English for Academic Purposes

curriculum in preparing them for their academic settings

A general finding regarding both the students’ written comments and interview data

showed that most students (93.5%) perceived a gap between the requirements of

disciplinary courses and what they were taught at CFL. While feeling that the EAP

curriculum had been beneficial in language skills development, survey respondents

articulated what had been lacking, as indicated by the following statements:

Here (referring to her department) we learn disciplinary English but there (at CFL), welearned daily English. There is a big difference between the two. When we started ourdepartment we did not see much relevance of what we had studied before.

I do not think that the level of English offered there is sufficient to help us follow ourdepartmental courses. Even though we are approaching the first mid-term examinationsnow in my departments we have difficulty in understanding much of the courses.

Clearly, what the student seems to refer to in the former quotation is his being

inexperienced in the conventions of his ADC, whereas in the latter not having

attained sufficient frames of reference that would enable him to access disciplinary

knowledge, thus displaying outsider status.

Another major concern of students was related to their inability to participate in

and speak fluently in lectures. The following excerpt represents the opinion of most

students:

Due to the lack of speaking practice we are now experiencing difficulty in understandinglectures. We do not have enough confidence to speak in lectures. Participating in thelectures is a real problem for us.

This interest in more speaking practice expressed repeatedly through this survey

is clearly related to students’ lack of practice in the specialist discourse of their

discipline, as a result of which they found it too difficult to frame the meanings into

usage of the specialist discourse, and participate in their disciplinary discussions.

This dilemma can be linked to what Northedge noted (2003, 172):

students are unable to make sense of utterances they encounter because they cannotplace them within the implicit frames of reference, but equally unable to make progresswith internalizing these frames of reference because they cannot engage with theutterances through which the frames are made manifest.

Another common experience that students reported was the frustration of

opening a chapter in a disciplinary book and finding that not much in it makes sense.

They stated that although most vocabulary was familiar, they could not assign much

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meaning. The written discourse and specialised lexis did not mean much to them, as

the following interview extract demonstrates:

When I started my university classes I realised how limited my knowledge of vocabularywas. I had to look up the dictionary very often. There are lots of words which I havecome across before but I have difficulty in understanding what they mean. Thevocabulary has different meaning, here.

What the student seems to refer to above is the frame of reference which she

lacked because the terms used within her ADC did not carry sufficient meaning for

her. Clearly, students’ lack of practice in WER and the frame of reference linked with

their discipline posed serious difficulties in participating effectively in reading-related

requirements.

Similar to comments made about reading, students’ comments on their own

writing also frequently made reference to difficulties in framing meaning to put in

specialised written discourse:

EAP writing activities should deal with the materials closer to university level classes. Idid not find the content of the programme academically interesting. We were asked towrite short essays on general topics. When I started my department I encountered manydifficulties in producing writings as required by lecturers. I wish I had more challengingwriting tasks, such as research oriented projects.

This institutionally supported writing as a ‘skill’ at CFL, focussing mainly on the

‘surface features’ of writing and de-contextualising of writing skills (Creme and Lea

2001) seems to have resulted in pedagogy that privileges ‘essayist literacy’ and ‘a

particular way of constructing knowledge’ (Lillis 2001, 20). The students, therefore,

regard more challenging writing and familiarity with academic writing conventions

as a pathway towards autonomy that would enable them to handle university writing

requirements.

Another theme that emerged from the survey was enculturation difficulties that

the students experienced in the process of adjusting to being a student in a new

environment. Most students (95%) expressed their initial experiences in their

respective ADC in terms that can be characterised as culture shock, as illustrated

in the following interview extract:

When I started my department I encountered many difficulties. I was shocked by theamount of reading we were asked to do. If I had studied my major-related subjectsbefore the transition into my university class would have been less problematic.

These difficulties that students face in moving between cultural practices from

one community to another are not unique to Turkish students. Burke and

Hermerschmidt (2005) in a discussion of literacy practices in a higher education

setting in England express similar difficulties that students face while adjusting to

new cultural settings.

Taken, as a whole, then, the results indicate that these former EAP students were

largely dissatisfied with the English language instruction they received. Northedge

(2003, 172) states that ‘what undermines newcomers’ efforts to understand academic

discourse is the unspoken assumptions, which provide the frame of reference, within

which it is meaningful’. Students’ inability to make a sentence meaningful in lectures,

in reading or the difficulty in formulating appropriate ideas in their writing seems to

indicate that they do not have appropriate frames of reference within their

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repertoires after their experience with a skills-based EAP curriculum and that skills

acquired within EAP are not always transferable to students’ academic classes, and

do not have much perceivable immediate relevance.

Lecturers’ requirements from the students in academic classes and their perceptions of

the students in meeting these requirements

Interviews with 15 lecturers revealed that the students were required to carry out

similar tasks to those identified through the questionnaire. Although in general,

there was consensus in the lecturers’ opinions, their responses varied in some aspects.

Reading was rated as the most important skill followed by listening/speaking and

writing. Vocabulary was found to be a common source of difficulty, affecting

students’ speaking fluency, obstructing reading comprehension, and causing low

reading speed. Although in all departments, students were expected to participate in

class discussions, lecturers noted that students experience difficulties in under-

standing extended lectures, and complained of the low rate of student participation.

The following extract by a lecturer from DECOBA reflects the opinion of many

lecturers:

Students should be encouraged to speak more. I would like to have interactive lectures.When I ask a question there is always silence in the class. I am sure students havesomething to express but they feel reluctant to speak, feeling afraid of making mistakes.Speaking is a major problem.

As has already been revealed through the questionnaire, students of ME and

EEE were required to writer reports, and those in DECOBA, projects, as a major

writing requirement. Lecturers stated that students’ writing problems were deeper at

an ‘epistemological level’ of knowing what to say in a discipline context (Lea and

Street 1998) rather than at the surface level with grammar, etc. Since students are

assessed largely by what they write to demonstrate their mastery of disciplinary

knowledge, they need to learn not only academic conventions but also disciplinary

writing requirements. This clearly indicates that writing is not simply a set of skills

but also a social practice embedded in particular contexts and disciplinary

frameworks.

Another significant writing task was answering examination questions. While

lecturers from DECOBA noted that students are required to answer open-ended

questions, those from ME and EEE commented that examination questions

generally require students to solve mathematical problems. Lecturers emphasised

the importance of developing efficient and analytical reading, and stressed that

students’ understanding of the nature of the examination questions should be

increased. Since engineering students are commonly required to solve problems in

examinations, the interviewees stated that the accuracy of the solved problems

largely depended on how well students understood the questions, as one lecturer

highlighted:

Reading is a very significant skill. First-year mechanical engineering courses generallyrequire students to use mathematical expressions. Verbal part is very little. However, thestudents need to understand what they read to be able to solve the problems in thewritten examinations.

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Target needs analysis and perceptions of students’ and lecturers have provided

insight into the academic practices of learners in three EME. Findings reveal that the

curriculum, as it stands, does not appropriately prepare students for the academic

experience and an exclusive focus on skills development leads to students becomingrestrictive members of their ADC.

Implications for the EAP curriculum

Three pedagogical suggestions have emerged to account for the perceived gap

between the demands of students’ disciplinary communities and the EAP pro-

gramme.

Socialising students into academic writing

Based on the interpretation of the survey results and considering the concept of

ADC and socialisation process described earlier, the methodological framework ofthe EAP writing curriculum can be conceptualised within the social constructivist

framework following Lea and Street’s models (1998, 2000), which recognises three

cycles in student writing:

Cycle 1 focuses on the acquisition of skills, that is, ‘surface features’ of writing

(Creme and Lea 2001), e.g. spelling, punctuation and grammar.

In Cycle 2, student writers need to go beyond merely writing the basics. They

need to be supported to explore the writing conventions of different academic

writings, know what is required of them, and develop strategies they might use tomeet those requirements. As suggested by Coffin et al. (2003), EAP instructors need

to demystify what, precisely, is a report and develop parallel examples for the text

types with which students will be involved in their ADC.

Cycle 3 is the stage of replicating in EAP classrooms the characteristics of real

university writing assignments helping students acquire academic literacy practices

of different disciplinary text types, and developing strategies in academic socialisa-

tion. As recommended by Lea and Street (1998), students need to work on genuine

pieces of work ‘in context’ related to their subjects of study. Additionally, sampleexamination questions from the three departments of the university need to be

obtained to examine examination scripts to familiarise students with question types

they are likely to face in their disciplinary classes.

In this way, students would not only develop effective writing skills, they would

also be helped to acquire the capacity to frame meanings which would enable them

to engage in a disciplinary discourse, and adapt smoothly to the social milieu of their

academic environment. Since EAP writing teachers may have little subject-specific

knowledge, the responsibility for student’s academic writing requirements, particu-larly in Cycles 2 and 3, above, might be shared between language teachers taking

responsibility for the specific academic skills development and subject specialists to

assist with disciplinary writing requirements.

Meeting students’ reading and lexical requirements

EAP teachers have a crucial role in enabling students to access written disciplinary

discourse and acquire the meaning of specialist lexis. An effective way to design

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appropriate reading materials and identify students’ lexical requirements is to

establish a specialised corpus, consisting of the written texts that first-year students

are expected to read in different disciplines. Using the corpus as a database, WER

can be replicated in EAP classes by developing reading texts and designing tasks

similar to those in disciplinary communities. The corpus-based reading would help

students in building-up frames of reference related to their disciplinary knowledge on

themes which are typical of first-year university classes, familiarise students with the

specialised lexical items and foster appropriate discourse processing strategies

(Kırkgoz 2006).

Managing enculturation difficulties

In the process of enculturation, EAP students’ cultural adjustment can be managed

in several ways. Johns (1988) advocates training students in ethnographic methods to

assist them to participate in the cultural and epistemological practices of their

respective ADCs. One possibility in which students can gain such skills is through

organising field trips from the familiar discourse in EAP into the specialist discourse,

which may enable the students to visit their intended ADC and attend lectures to

explore what it means for them to be an actual member of an ADC (Kırkgoz 2006).

Such trips would also help in the socialisation process, promoting social interaction

with members of ADC. Alternatively, lecturers can be invited from the students’

ADC to deliver introductory lectures at CFL. Such practices would also contribute

towards closing the gap that students experienced in the performance of oral

communication by helping students to practice various listening/speaking activities,

and with strategies for asking and responding to lecturers’ questions, thereby helping

students to internalise sufficient shared frame of references related to their

disciplinary knowledge.

By incorporating the above suggested innovations into the EAP curriculum for

students beyond the beginner level of proficiency, it is expected that the curriculum

can serve more effectively to meet the target needs of the students who must make

the transition from English language learners to subject-specific English users.

Conclusion

This paper has described perceptions of the students and lecturers on the

effectiveness of the foreign language instruction in meeting students’ disciplinary

requirements in an English-medium university in Turkey. The findings demonstrate

that an overly skills-based EAP curriculum remains inadequate in preparing students

effectively for their academic requirements. The suggested approach constitutes a

shift in emphasis from a skills-based curriculum to a discourse-community driven

philosophy that goes beyond the concept of teaching languages for skills develop-

ment to considering writing as a social practice, taking a work-embedded nature to

reading, and emphasising the need to initiate students through various practices.

The present study has been concerned with one English-medium university.

However, it may be suggested that the findings have implications that extend beyond

the context to which it refers to include other English-medium universities in Turkey

and other countries where similar situations exist.

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