An investigation into the attitudes and attributes that can support teachers in their transition from General English to English for Academic Purposes

With the need to staff increased numbers of pre-sessional courses (Jordan 2002:69; de Lotbini�re, 2008; Alexander, 2012:100), the transition of General English teachers to an English for Academic Purposes context has been the subject of research in recent years (Alexander, 2012, Post, 2010; Alexander, 2007 cited in Alexander 2010; Krzanowski, 2001) . However, most of this past research has focused on challenges related to context, skills and knowledge 'deficit' in GE teachers, and less attention has been paid to the attitudes and attributes which could support transitioning teachers. This study seeks to investigate the attitudes and attributes which could support a GE teacher transitioning to EAP. Four small groups of respondents (GE teachers transitioning to EAP; Experienced EAP teachers with a GE background; Recruiters to pre-sessionals; and a Teaching EAP tutor) were interviewed or asked to respond to on-line surveys and the resulting data was analysed and coded. Results showed that tutors in possession of the relevant attitudes and attributes appeared to be highly-regarded by recruiters and TEAP tutors. Also, it was possible to identify those attitudes and attributes in the Experienced EAP tutor respondents. This suggests that teacher attitudes and attributes can play a significant part in supporting a transition from GE to EAP and that as such they warrant more attention than they appear to have received previously.