16/12/2024
Over three thousand English teachers and other educational professionals came together to discuss the latest trends for teaching Academic English. The Academic English Conference 2024 is an annual event organised by 蓝莓视频 & Assessment.
One of the big questions under the spotlight was: What is the future of academic English? Leading experts in the field of English language teaching covered a range of topics such as the importance of teaching vocabulary, how technologies such as Generative AI can be used in the English classroom to help teach academic writing skills and the importance of developing classroom materials that are engaging, personalised and motivating.
鈥淭he academic English teaching landscape is changing rapidly and that鈥檚 why events like these are so important,鈥 commented Francesca Woodward, Managing Director for English at 蓝莓视频 & Assessment. She continued: 鈥淏y bringing global teaching communities together, we鈥檙e able to learn more about the best ways to teach the vital components of Academic English and what the future holds for the sector.鈥
The conference was also an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the term EAP (English for Academic Purposes). As part of the celebrations, Chris Sowton who has been working in the sector for 25 years, looked at what鈥檚 in store for teachers of Academic English including emerging digital tools, the way learning is assessed, how content is delivered and how the teacher is perceived.
Other speakers included Craig Thaine, teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer in England, Italy, Egypt, Sweden and his native New Zealand. In his talk, 鈥楪etting organised: Helping low level EAP learners write coherent texts鈥 he shared his expertise on how the adoption of a light version of a genre-based approach can help low-level EAP learners with simple text organization and consider the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academic writing programmes.
Alice Savage is an experienced English teacher and author. She presented 鈥楲ight a fire through personalizing and localizing content鈥. In her talk she introduced three major shifts currently upending English language teaching and how the intersection of these three developments potentially offers teachers guidance and resources for creating personalized content that can complement traditional unit topics.
Averil Coxhead presented 鈥楢 critical question for EAP: How does vocabulary grow?鈥 In her talk, she focused on why a large vocabulary is needed for EAP, how vocabulary grows and what factors affect its growth.
Greg Archer is a Delta-qualified teacher and teacher trainer. In his talk, 鈥楢 creative and 鈥 dare I say it...? 鈥 fun approach to building academic writing skills鈥 he presented a fresh, engaging approach to building academic writing skills.
Colin Ward is a professor, materials writer and teacher trainer from Houston, Texas, USA. In his talk, 鈥楾hinking Locally, Writing Socially鈥 he presented the results of a study that compared the academic expectations of ESOL and non-ESOL faculty at a community college in the United States.
About the Academic English Conference
The Academic English Conference is an annual online event run and organised by 蓝莓视频 & Assessment. Now, in its 6th year, it provides a forum for Academic English teachers, professionals, and experts to share their knowledge and expertise.
You can watch the recordings about the