The University of Northampton has hosted a BALEAP PIM on the theme of Knowledge in EAP.
This PIM has explored and exploited the existing knowledge, experience and beliefs of the BALEAP community present on the day to interrogate the position of knowledge in EAP, with the intention of challenging the status quo and driving the field of EAP forward.
There has been increasing consideration of the role of knowledge in the field of EAP [with Ding and Bruce’s (2017) focus on the practitioner, Maton’s plenary at the 2017 conference in Bristol introducing Legitimation Code Theory, Kirk’s (2017) ‘seeing knowledges in academic writing’, and Monbec’s (2018) focus on making knowledge explicit in the EAP curriculum]. It would appear that now is an opportune moment to open up dialogue across the BALEAP community concerning knowledge in EAP. To this end, the structure of this PIM was quite different, aiming to generate discussion and enable contributions from the wider audience. The day has followed the world café format, with a call for café hosts, rather than a traditional call for papers. Hosts have led a room; introducing the room to an aspect of knowledge within EAP that the host feels passionate about and/or has researched (in a maximum of 6 minutes) and then facilitating the audience’s exploration of this theme through up to 4 related questions. This format has afforded greater discussion and input from the participants, enabling the host to gather a richer snapshot of the EAP community’s beliefs and experiences.
BALEAP PIM knowledge in EAP final programme
Although this was a one-day event, it is hoped that it will be a catalyst for taking EAP in new directions, with long-lasting impacts. Write-ups from the day have been published and made freely available to the global EAP community here:
Please also check the #knowledgeEAP hashtag on Twitter.
