Re-imagining Spaces and Materials in the English for Academic Purposes Foundation Classroom
Abstract
The return to in-person teaching has triggered this reflective account based on lessons learned during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In this practitioner’s article, we reflect on our own approach to incorporating an online platform to present learners’ materials. We move away from the typical PowerPoint and Handout combination and explore a different way to engage our learners. We start by introducing our content followed by the pedagogical underpinnings informing our materials design. We then move on to analyse how this pedagogical innovation transformed our classroom space. This reflective piece concludes with recommendations for practice to rethink our learning and teaching spaces in the English for Academic Purposes Classroom.
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Author Biographies
Dr Paula Villegas is an associate lecturer in Academic English and TESOL at the International Education Institute, University of St Andrews. She is the Academic English Skills Director at IE and has over 10 years of experience in teaching English for Academic Purposes in China and the UK. Paula has completed an EdD exploring perceptions of Flipped Learning in an Online EAP presessional course. Her research interests include FL, OL, Motivation, academic literacies and Legitimation Code Theory. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the BALEAP Research and Publication subcommittee.
John Hughes is an associate lecturer in Academic English and TESOL at the International Education Institute, University of St Andrews. He is the Programme Director for the International Foundation Programme Medical Sciences (Extended International Pre-Med) at IE. He has over 20 years of experience in teaching English gained in a variety of institutions, including language schools, universities and post-graduate institutes. His research interests are Methodology, FL and OL. He is a member of the IE ethics committee and a recent participant in IE’s initiative, The Conceptual Toolkit for Language Teaching Practitioners (CTLTP).
