Critical Thinking in EAP. Louis Rogers, co-author of the new Oxford EAP series, looks at the much-debated topic of teaching critical thinking in Academic English (EAP) courses. Louis hosted a webinar on this topic on the 1st February 2013. Critical Thinking has been a buzz term in recent years within EAP and is not without its controversies. The one thing that most people would agree on is that it is integral to academia no matter what country, culture, institution or course the students are based in. However, what much of the discussion of critical thinking revolves around is: What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is one of those terms, like culture, that can have numerous definitions as it means so many things to different people.
Not to say that we have the right or perfect definition in Oxford EAP, but we have chosen to define it in this context: ‘students need to question what they read, look for assumptions and weaknesses, make connections, respond, and evaluate’. Like this: Like Loading... Teaching critical thinking using Bloom’s Taxonomy | Cambridge ConversationsCambridge Conversations | All things ELT from Cambridge English.
In her previous post for Cambridge Conversations, Unlock author Carolyn Westbrook introduced the basics of teaching Critical Thinking in ELT. Today, she explores Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Objectives classifies a number of skills which can be used to teach critical thinking. The six skills are often depicted as a triangle, as above. However, representing the skills like this gives the impression of a hierarchical approach to critical thinking. This is not necessarily the case, however.
But what do the six skills really mean? • Remember: can students recall information they have read or heard? As can be seen from the two diagrams, a number of verbs are associated with each of the six skills. Furthermore, by taking a task-based approach to teaching critical thinking, we can design a range of integrated tasks which will enable students to do what is necessary to achieve the output. 1. 2. 3. About the author: Carolyn Westbrook+ Journey to Senior Fellow of the HEA. I was awarded recognition of the HEA Senior Fellowship in August 2014. I was pleased that after two years of preparation and information gathering, I received recognition from my prepared claim and inclusion into the Academy.
This journey was filled with a mix of emotion, experience and narrative. The recognition process directed me on a course of reflection that would deepen my academic standing and form a basis of continued support for my institution and the wider academic community. As a designer I was determined to build my professional practice account from an interpretation of the Dimensions of Practice in a broad and creative manner. I believed the three Dimensions of the Framework were there for topical reference rather than structured guidance and that the uniqueness of my academic experiences would be enough to stand out. Design training encourages an alternative approach to interpreting processes and most actions. Some thoughts on the Senior Fellowship: Rod Adams, May 2015. Doctoral EAP | a collection of experiences, reflections, resources and rants.
Education on Air. Free learning resources for teachers | Jorum | jorum.ac.uk. OER Commons. Welcome to HumBox - HumBox. Welcome to LORO - LORO. Text Structure Worksheets. Identifying Text Structure 1: Read the passages. Identify the text structure. Write information from the passage into the appropriate graphic organizer. Graphic organizers are available at the top of the page. Suggested reading level for this text: Grade 6-10Identifying Text Structure Worksheet RTFIdentifying Text Structure Worksheet PDFPreview Identifying Text Structure in Your BrowserView AnswersText Structure Practice 1 | Ereading Worksheet Identifying Text Structure 2: Read the passages and put the information from each passage into an appropriate graphic organizer.
Identifying Text Structure 3 – read the following passages and determine the text structure. Identifying Text Structure 4 – read each passage and determine the text structure. Identifying Text Structure 5 – In this single-sided worksheet, students read the five passages and draw graphic organizers on a separate sheet of paper. Text Structure Worksheet 10 – Eleven nonfiction passages about fireworks. Academic Discourse and Literacies and the Teaching of Academic Writing « Teaching EAP. It is interesting to see that one of the recurring key themes in the Journal of English for Academic Purposes (2010-11) as well as BALEAP PIMs (November 2000 and November 2011) has been academic discourse and literacies and EAP discipline-specific teaching methods.
If we also look at the summary of competency statements in the BALEAP Competency Framework for Teaching of English for Academic Purposes, we can see that an EAP practitioner is expected: To be able to recognize and explore disciplinary differences and how they influence the way knowledge is expanded and communicated, and have a high level of systemic language knowledge including knowledge of discourse analysis. (BALEAP, 2008) The authors of a recent publication, based on the British Academic Written English (BAWE) Corpus, point out that the starting point of their research study into student writing across disciplines was not the texts themselves but their disciplinary contexts (Nesi and Gardner 2012).
References: Bhatia, V. Google. Sentence Errors: Comma Splices, Run-ons, and Frag | University of West Florida. Writing Lab PowerPoints Each of the above PowerPoints covers the same rules. Rules for Comma Splices A comma splice is the unjustifiable use of only a comma to combine two separate sentences. (One should use either a period, a semicolon, or a coordinating conjunction and a comma to separate the two statements.) Comma splice: Wearing a seatbelt is not just a good idea, it's the law. Revision: Wearing a seatbelt is not just a good idea; it's the law.
Both run-on sentences and comma splices may be corrected in any of the following ways: Run-on: Tevon won the award he had the highest score. Comma splice: Tevon won the award, he had the highest score. 1. Example: Tevon won the award. 2. Example: Tevon won the award, for he had the highest score. 3. Example: Tevon won the award; he had the highest score. NOTE: If a conjunctive adverb like therefore, however, then, or consequently separates the two sentences, use a semicolon also. Example: I was unwilling to testify; however, I did it anyway. 4. Fragments-and-Run-ons-The-Writing-Center.pdf. Getting started with e-portfolios. 03 March 2015 Discover how e-portfolios can help your students E-portfolios are becoming increasingly popular at the University of Bath.
They are a powerful tool which enables students to reflect on their own learning, highlighting the improvement of skills which students are developing over time. Their use has already had a significant impact in a number of departments, as they not only help to build students' confidence in the new skills that they have learnt, but employers are becoming increasingly interested in students' competencies beyond degree attainment, which e-portfolios can help to illustrate. If you're interested in how the use of e-portfolios can be used to support your students in their learning, then please do come along to hear more at an hour long workshop on Tuesday 21 April 2015 at 10.15am hosted by the e-learning team.
For any queries about the session or to register your interest, please contact Dan White at D.J.White@bath.ac.uk. Guidelines for papers. Academic English. EAP Speaking Resources. English for Academic Purposes. Plagiarism and Citation. Academic Writing. EAP. Essay Writing. Advanced Academic Writing.