Competence in spoken and written academic discourse can be a significant linguistic predictor of academic success (Daller et al., 2021). However, compared to speakers of English as a first language (L1) and advanced EAL speakers, students with lower language proficiency face challenges because they concurrently strive to achieve language competence, develop academic literacy skills and meet academic standards in their discipline. Limited fluency while interpreting and/or expressing ideas might lead to the EAL students' reluctance to engage in unplanned interaction and even perception of themselves as impostors, who are less academically capable than their more proficient peers. The recent research demonstrates that the problem has intensified over the two years of distance learning (Yüce, 2022).
This presentation provides a solution by arguing that the awareness of and ability to operate formulaic sequences provide a shortcut for students who endeavour to increase fluency of comprehension and production. The presentation discusses a formulaic language-focused teaching and learning approach that is embedded in genre pedagogy, socio-pragmatic theories, and corpus linguistics and presents the results of the research project conducted with over 40 participants in a content-based (CB) EAP course. Based on their English language proficiency test scores, these first-year undergraduate students were placed in the beginner-level EAP course while taking discipline-specific courses. Although the participants were from different programs of study, they experienced similar difficulties in reading/listening-comprehension and production of spoken and written academic texts. Over the four months while working on the course assignments that included reading sources for annotated bibliography, collecting/describing data, writing a research report and delivering presentations, participants were exposed to formulaic language-focused instruction. The input-enhanced instruction targeted noticing and inferencing from the context and explicit teaching through the analysis of formulaic sequences by using academic texts, corpora and technology-enhanced tools, such as collocation databases and translation apps. The effectiveness of the instruction was measured by the pre- and post-instruction recognition and controlled production-based test, quantitative analysis of samples of coursework, and qualitative analysis of informal student feedback. The results demonstrate increased fluency and accuracy of recognition, a statistically significant decrease of accuracy/appropriacy of use errors in the spoken and written production, as well as perceived self-efficacy. Participants reported feeling more confident when identifying and operating formulaic sequences in academic discourse. The implications of the study suggest the importance of formulaic language-enhanced instruction in helping EAL students develop academic literacy, overcome the impostor syndrome and become full participants in the community of peers and professors.
References
Barnhart, C. R., Li, L., & Thompson, J. (2022). Learning whiplash: Chinese College EFL learners' perceptions of sudden online learning. E-Learning and Digital Media, 19(3), 240-257.
Daller, M., Kuiken, F., Trenkic, D., & Vedder, I. (2021). Linguistic predictors of academic achievement amongst international students and home students in higher education: Introduction. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 24(10), 1453-1457.
Schmitt, N. (2013). Formulaic language and collocation. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishing.
