Exploring EAP teachers’ expertise: Reflections on practice, pedagogy and professional development

The last 10-15 years has seen significant change in the ways in which English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is labelled and positioned within higher education institutions in the U.K. (Hyland, 2018). EAP teachers are often viewed and treated as a uniform group even though they work under a number of often interchangeable and locally specific titles, deploying their teaching expertise across a range of different settings. Despite such generic perceptions of EAP teachers and teaching, little is known about what EAP teachers see as central to their profession, what constitutes EAP teaching expertise, and how this expertise is gained and enhanced. This paper reports on a mixed-methods design study that sought an emic perspective on what EAP teachers consider as their expertise and what opportunities they have to develop professionally. Drawing on 116 questionnaires and 15 interviews with EAP teachers the data gives voice to EAP practitioners, which has often been missing from research in the field (Ding & Bruce, 2017). Initial findings highlight issues including the types of training and development colleagues feel they need and what they receive, where EAP professional knowledge and expertise is located and the position of EAP knowledge within the broader academy.