Learning EAP at university: Perceptions of high-achieving first-year ESL undergraduates

Learning EAP at university: Perceptions of high-achieving first-year ESL undergraduates

• Yung, Wai Ho Kevin The Education University of Hong Kong
• Fong, Natalie The University of Hong Kong

ELT Journal, 2019

Oxford University Press

2019

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GB English Language
    • GBA Teaching Objectives, Curriculum & Evaluation
• N Students & Student Services
  • NC Charactieristics & Conditions of Students; Opinion & Attitudes of Students, Problems of Adjustment

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

This study focuses on the perceptions of learning EAP of first-year undergraduates with high ESL proficiency admitted to an English-medium university in Hong Kong. Two in-depth individual interviews were conducted with nine participants and their written assignments were analysed. The data reveal several challenges facing the high achievers in learning EAP. One evident aspect is how to properly cite academic sources. The participants struggled with selecting suitable texts from sources, paraphrasing them, and using them to support their arguments. They also perceived a need to abandon the recited formulaic expressions which may have helped them score highly in the secondary school examination. This study reveals gaps between the English learnt in secondary school and EAP and offers insight into what first-year students need when they transition from secondary school to university studies. It argues that EAP should be made an essential component of first-year undergraduate programmes. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

• English

Journal Articles

• 09510893

• 10.1093/elt/ccz019

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/6291dab6

2019-12-09