Abstract :
[en] This paper confronts language use in the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus with the representation of lectures in 25 listening coursebooks (Deroey, submitted; Deroey, 2017). Following key tenets such as authenticity, specificity and needs analysis, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) materials development should be guided by an understanding of target genres and their communicative demands. Yet, lecture listening coursebooks have often been criticised for their lack of realistic lecture models (e.g. Alexander, Argent, & Spencer, 2008; Field, 2011; Thompson, 2003).
The aspects of representativeness examined in these coursebooks are language, lecture authenticity and research-informedness. To assess the representativeness of language, signposts of important points are compared with those retrieved from the BASE corpus of 160 authentic lectures (Deroey, submitted; Deroey and Taverniers, 2012). The coursebook lectures are also analysed in terms of their source, delivery and length. The materials are further reviewed for their use of findings from research into listening comprehension and lecture discourse.
Results suggest that current lecture listening materials often do not reflect the language and lectures students are likely to encounter on their degree programmes. Moreover, materials are typically not (systematically) informed by listening and lecture discourse research. These findings highlight the need for EAP practitioners to approach published materials critically and supplement or modify them in ways that would better serve students.
References
Alexander, O., Argent, S., & Spencer, J. (2008). EAP Essentials: a teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Reading: Garnet.
Deroey, K. L. B. (submitted). The representativeness of lecture listening coursebooks: language, lectures, research-informedness.
Deroey, K. L. B. (2017). How representative are EAP listening books of real lectures? . In J. Kemp (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2015 BALEAP Conference. EAP in a rapidly changing landscape: Issues, challenges and solutions. Reading: Garnet.
Deroey, K. L. B., & Taverniers, M. (2012). Just remember this: Lexicogrammatical relevance markers in lectures. English for Specific Purposes, 31(4), 221-233.
Field, J. (2011). Into the mind of the academic listener. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10(2), 102-112.
Thompson, S. E. (2003). Text-structuring metadiscourse, intonation and the signalling of organisation in academic lectures. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2(1), 5-20.