Session 1D
Title: EAP curriculum design for research students

Abstract:
Curriculum development projects provide experienced language teachers with the opportunity to use and extend their knowledge and skills in new and challenging ways. Difficult decisions need to made, under a range of constraints, about how approaches and content can best support effective and efficient language teaching and learning. There are no manuals for this kind of complex work.

In this session I reflect on my current experience in designing the curriculum and writing materials for a new EAP course for prospective higher degree research students, to be offered by UTS: Insearch. I provide a brief account of how some of the core theoretical issues in EAP pedagogy were addressed, give a brief overview of the course content, show examples of unedited lessons in selected curriculum areas, and use these lessons as the basis for group discussion of the practice of EAP curriculum and material design.

Biodata:
Neil England is a teacher, teacher educator and curriculum specialist at UTS: Insearch. He has taught EFL and been involved in pre- and in-service EFL teacher education in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the United States. He recently completed a PhD through the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, on the topic of the workings of intercultural dialogue in language teacher educator professional development. His main academic and professional interests are in curriculum and materials development and language teacher/teacher educator beliefs.