Papers by Peter Levrai
Innovation, exploration and transformation – Proceedings of the 2019 BALEAP Conference, 2022
Student collaboration is a feature of tertiary level studies and collaboration itself can be a st... more Student collaboration is a feature of tertiary level studies and collaboration itself can be a stated learning outcome of degree programmes as an important employability competence. Much work has been done to define and understand collaboration, with a clear distinction being drawn between collaboration and cooperation. The concern of this paper is how the theoretical conception of collaboration is understood by practitioners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and whether the theoretical distinctions found in the literature between collaboration and cooperation fit the needs and realities of the EAP classroom. A survey of 66 EAP practitioners in diverse contexts shows that there is a continuum of views about what is considered ‘collaboration’, which often differs from definitions in the literature. The survey also highlighted that a range of collaborative assignments are used across institutions, both in terms of mode and the role they play in assessment. However, something which is greatly needed is a shared understanding of what collaboration is (and is not) in EAP. This paper proposes a definition of collaborative assignments in EAP, drawing from both the research literature and practitioner perspectives, which can help inform future assignment design and assessment approaches.
With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universiti... more With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universities, on-going EAP support is an important aspect of the student experience, intended to contribute to academic success. Looking specifically at the context of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, this paper charts the development of on-going EAP support and its evolution from a prescribed set of workshops to a much more flexible system, blending academic consultations and online learning solutions. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This is a presentation analysing the use of a mixed panel to assess end of semester presentations... more This is a presentation analysing the use of a mixed panel to assess end of semester presentations by electrical and electronic engineering students, describing the advantages of a mixed panel for engaging students more thoroughly and adding necessary authenticity to the presentation task
With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universiti... more With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universities, on-going EAP support is an important aspect of the student experience, intended to contribute to academic success. Looking specifically at the context of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, this paper charts the development of on-going EAP support and its evolution from a prescribed set of workshops to a much more flexible system, blending academic consultations and online learning solutions.
2016 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE), Dec 1, 2016
Engineering students have been portrayed as having poor oral communication skills despite oral co... more Engineering students have been portrayed as having poor oral communication skills despite oral communication competence being a key factor in future career success. With the aim of equipping students with attributes identified as important for Engineering graduates this paper presents a research project carried out at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in the Division of Science & Engineering with Electrical and Electronic with undergraduate students, focusing on the use of a mixed specialist and nonspecialist audience for students' end of semester oral presentations assessment. It is known that oral presentations are an important academic genre developing communication skills and confidence in students but it is an area which has been found to be lacking in traditional engineering courses. The innovation of the mixed panel was to help prepare students for life after university by giving them experience of pitching technical material appropriate to the knowledge of the audience, which is something they will have to do when working in companies or on projects. This paper outlines the experience from the perspective of the assessors from different disciplines who were interviewed to determine what they were looking for in the presentations. It will also review the experience of the students themselves, based on a survey which considered the impact the mixed audience had on their presentation preparation in terms of language, presenting skills and content. This innovation in assessment encourages multidisciplinary thinking in students and the impact of audience on presentation content and delivery is something which could be explored across different academic fields.
Kielikeskus tutkii, 2019
This paper considers the notion of collaboration in an EAP context with particular reference to h... more This paper considers the notion of collaboration in an EAP context with particular reference to how this concept is understood by practitioners. The results of their survey of over sixty teachers and staff show that there is a continuum of views as to what collaboration is seen to be and the views often differ from those found in the literature. It proposes a working definition of collaborative assignments in EAP that can help future design and assessment approaches.
BALEAP Conference 2019, 2019
Collaboration is one of the 4Cs competencies as well as a learning and innovation skill considere... more Collaboration is one of the 4Cs competencies as well as a learning and innovation skill considered essential for students and by future employers (World Economic Forum, 2016; P21, 2016). Considerable research has been done in the field of student collaboration in L2 writing, especially by Storch (2013), developing distinctions between ‘cooperation’ and ‘collaboration’. Li and Storch
(2017) state, ‘future L2 writing pedagogies need to go beyond the written texts and encourage students to collaborate and scaffold each other’s learning using the new technological tools’. Indeed,
Talib and Cheung (2017) found in their review of 68 articles about collaborative writing over a 10-year period that, ‘technology has facilitated collaborative writing’. A concern of this paper is how
well theoretical distinctions hold up when considering written group assignments in EAP contexts.
Innovations in L2 collaborative writing are set to continue and while ‘collaborative’ projects (oral and written) feature in EAP programmes, how they are implemented, monitored and assessed differ
greatly. This was clear from personal experience and anecdotal evidence within our circle of EAP colleagues. To explore how widespread the use of collaborative assignments are in EAP provision in
different contexts, an online survey was distributed through the BALEAP and EATAW mailing lists in March 2018. Respondents numbered 66, from 63 institutions in 27 countries. They described how
collaborative assignments are used in their institutions and how teachers view them. The data was mainly quantitative with some open questions included for the collection of rich data.
The results showed that there is a wide range of views about what is considered ‘collaboration’ amongst EAP practitioners, which often differs from definitions in the literature. There was also a range of collaborative assignments used across institutions, both in terms of mode and the role they played in assessment. The grading of collaborative assignments, how much they contribute to
students’ final grades and whether the process or final product is emphasised also produced mixed results.
Overall, there appears to be an appetite (with caveats) among practitioners for more student collaborative work to be included in EAP programmes. However, something which is greatly needed is a shared understanding of what collaboration is (and isn’t) in EAP. This paper proposes a working definition of collaborative assignments in EAP, drawing from both the research literature and practitioner experiences. Some practical suggestions for designing, supporting and assessing
collaborative assignments will also be discussed.
Folio, 2018
Writing language training materials is challenging. Writing language training materials with some... more Writing language training materials is challenging. Writing language training materials with someone else is a different kind of challenge and writing materials with a group of people poses a different kind of challenge again. When we wrote 'Develop EAP: A Sustainable Academic Skills Course' in 2017, we built a framework to support students through a collaborative essay writing assignment and it encouraged us to reflect on how we work and what it is like to develop materials with other people. Based on our experiences in various materials development teams across different contexts, there are some steps or strategies recommended in this paper to help lead to a successful collaboration, where the sum of the parts is greater than anything an individual could achieve alone. The particular focus is on advice for the earliest stage of team development, the storming stage, which sets the course for the whole materials development project.
In English for academic purposes courses, group oral presentations are quite common but essay wri... more In English for academic purposes courses, group oral presentations are quite common but essay writing tends to be seen as an individual endeavour, albeit with scope for peer review. This article discusses action research reflecting on student perceptions of a framework to support students through a semester-long collaborative essay assignment in an English-medium instruction university in Macau. The framework presented incorporates collaborative and individual assignment tasks, assisted by information and communications technology, to support the collaborative process and facilitate the assessment of the individual within the group. Even though writing in a group may take more time and effort, it is viewed favourably by the majority of students due to the additional learning gains to be made by writing collaboratively, including the increased quality of ideas and the social interactions (face-to-face and online) required to come to agreement.
This paper outlines the rationale for using collaborative writing assignments in EAP and how thos... more This paper outlines the rationale for using collaborative writing assignments in EAP and how those assignments can be scaffolded to help students during the group writing process.
This paper will discuss the development of a framework for an EGAP course which provides a high l... more This paper will discuss the development of a framework for an EGAP course which provides a high level of flexibility and adaptability and demonstrate why the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals are such a rich resource for EAP courses.
European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2017
This paper describes the development of an EGAP course through the implementation of Backward Des... more This paper describes the development of an EGAP course through the implementation of Backward Design. It charts each stage of the design process from course conception to developing a course framework and then classroom materials. One of the aims of the course was to develop a course which is sustainable, that is one which can be used in a variety of settings with students from different academic disciplines across subsequent cohorts. This was achieved by blending classroom materials with an active VLE and basing the course on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which lend themselves to multidisciplinary study.
With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universiti... more With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universities, on-going EAP support is an important aspect of the student experience, intended to contribute to academic success. Looking specifically at the context of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, this paper charts the development of on-going EAP support and its evolution from a prescribed set of workshops to a much more flexible system, blending academic consultations and online learning solutions.
Oral Presentations are an important part of studying in an English-medium university environment ... more Oral Presentations are an important part of studying in an English-medium university environment and will be something many students face, whatever their field of study. Such presentations can be particularly challenging for non-native English speakers (NNES). Despite the importance of oral presentations as a form of academic discourse, they remain a relatively underresearched area and an area where there is limited targeted EAP presentation training materials. There
is no clear conceptualization in the existing literature of which the authors are aware as to the key features that make a presentation academic. This paper aims to redress that issue with the aim of then evaluating the training materials currently available to help NNES develop their academic oral presentation skills.
This article argues that coursebooks play a central role in language training and that they could... more This article argues that coursebooks play a central role in language training and that they could do more in order to help teachers' professional development.
With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universiti... more With the increase of non-native English speakers undertaking degrees in English-medium universities, on-going EAP support is an important aspect of the student experience, intended to contribute to academic success. Looking specifically at the context of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, this paper charts the development of on-going EAP support and its evolution from a prescribed set of workshops to a much more flexible system, blending academic consultations and online learning solutions.
Conference Presentations by Peter Levrai
Collaborative assignments (e.g. group essay or group presentation) feature in EAP programmes but... more Collaborative assignments (e.g. group essay or group presentation) feature in EAP programmes but carry tensions around assessment, with particular concerns around fairness. This talk will evaluate the different assessment lenses available (including individual complementary assignment and assessing collaboration itself) and discuss the decision making process in developing a rationalized, justified and fairer assessment scheme for collaborative assignments.
The assessment of collaborative assignments is widely recognized in the literature as an area of tension, particularly when it comes to summative assessment. When collaborative assignments are used in EAP programmes, these tensions are manifest. How can we assess students fairly? How can we measure collaboration? How can we differentiate between students or deal with free-riders?
This talk will try to address these tensions, drawing on PhD research into EAP practitioner approaches and beliefs about collaborative assignments. It will discuss research participants’ evaluations of different models of assessment for collaborative assignments, which in turn brings into view their collaborative assessment identity. EAP practitioners are bound by the principles of fairness, transparency and simplicity when it comes to collaborative assignments, which in turn inform three guiding orientations. That is to say that they are reward orientated (wanting to ensure students get the results they deserve), practically orientated (wanting to ensure assessment is feasible and doable) and defensively orientated (wanting to ensure all assessment is rationalized and justified).
The talk will then turn to the collaborative assessment algorithm, which is the series of considerations and decision trees that have to be navigated to develop a robust assessment scheme for collaborative assignments with positive washback. It may not be possible to develop a fully fair assessment scheme for collaborative assignments but through well informed decision making we can ensure such assessments are fairer.
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Papers by Peter Levrai
(2017) state, ‘future L2 writing pedagogies need to go beyond the written texts and encourage students to collaborate and scaffold each other’s learning using the new technological tools’. Indeed,
Talib and Cheung (2017) found in their review of 68 articles about collaborative writing over a 10-year period that, ‘technology has facilitated collaborative writing’. A concern of this paper is how
well theoretical distinctions hold up when considering written group assignments in EAP contexts.
Innovations in L2 collaborative writing are set to continue and while ‘collaborative’ projects (oral and written) feature in EAP programmes, how they are implemented, monitored and assessed differ
greatly. This was clear from personal experience and anecdotal evidence within our circle of EAP colleagues. To explore how widespread the use of collaborative assignments are in EAP provision in
different contexts, an online survey was distributed through the BALEAP and EATAW mailing lists in March 2018. Respondents numbered 66, from 63 institutions in 27 countries. They described how
collaborative assignments are used in their institutions and how teachers view them. The data was mainly quantitative with some open questions included for the collection of rich data.
The results showed that there is a wide range of views about what is considered ‘collaboration’ amongst EAP practitioners, which often differs from definitions in the literature. There was also a range of collaborative assignments used across institutions, both in terms of mode and the role they played in assessment. The grading of collaborative assignments, how much they contribute to
students’ final grades and whether the process or final product is emphasised also produced mixed results.
Overall, there appears to be an appetite (with caveats) among practitioners for more student collaborative work to be included in EAP programmes. However, something which is greatly needed is a shared understanding of what collaboration is (and isn’t) in EAP. This paper proposes a working definition of collaborative assignments in EAP, drawing from both the research literature and practitioner experiences. Some practical suggestions for designing, supporting and assessing
collaborative assignments will also be discussed.
is no clear conceptualization in the existing literature of which the authors are aware as to the key features that make a presentation academic. This paper aims to redress that issue with the aim of then evaluating the training materials currently available to help NNES develop their academic oral presentation skills.
Conference Presentations by Peter Levrai
The assessment of collaborative assignments is widely recognized in the literature as an area of tension, particularly when it comes to summative assessment. When collaborative assignments are used in EAP programmes, these tensions are manifest. How can we assess students fairly? How can we measure collaboration? How can we differentiate between students or deal with free-riders?
This talk will try to address these tensions, drawing on PhD research into EAP practitioner approaches and beliefs about collaborative assignments. It will discuss research participants’ evaluations of different models of assessment for collaborative assignments, which in turn brings into view their collaborative assessment identity. EAP practitioners are bound by the principles of fairness, transparency and simplicity when it comes to collaborative assignments, which in turn inform three guiding orientations. That is to say that they are reward orientated (wanting to ensure students get the results they deserve), practically orientated (wanting to ensure assessment is feasible and doable) and defensively orientated (wanting to ensure all assessment is rationalized and justified).
The talk will then turn to the collaborative assessment algorithm, which is the series of considerations and decision trees that have to be navigated to develop a robust assessment scheme for collaborative assignments with positive washback. It may not be possible to develop a fully fair assessment scheme for collaborative assignments but through well informed decision making we can ensure such assessments are fairer.
(2017) state, ‘future L2 writing pedagogies need to go beyond the written texts and encourage students to collaborate and scaffold each other’s learning using the new technological tools’. Indeed,
Talib and Cheung (2017) found in their review of 68 articles about collaborative writing over a 10-year period that, ‘technology has facilitated collaborative writing’. A concern of this paper is how
well theoretical distinctions hold up when considering written group assignments in EAP contexts.
Innovations in L2 collaborative writing are set to continue and while ‘collaborative’ projects (oral and written) feature in EAP programmes, how they are implemented, monitored and assessed differ
greatly. This was clear from personal experience and anecdotal evidence within our circle of EAP colleagues. To explore how widespread the use of collaborative assignments are in EAP provision in
different contexts, an online survey was distributed through the BALEAP and EATAW mailing lists in March 2018. Respondents numbered 66, from 63 institutions in 27 countries. They described how
collaborative assignments are used in their institutions and how teachers view them. The data was mainly quantitative with some open questions included for the collection of rich data.
The results showed that there is a wide range of views about what is considered ‘collaboration’ amongst EAP practitioners, which often differs from definitions in the literature. There was also a range of collaborative assignments used across institutions, both in terms of mode and the role they played in assessment. The grading of collaborative assignments, how much they contribute to
students’ final grades and whether the process or final product is emphasised also produced mixed results.
Overall, there appears to be an appetite (with caveats) among practitioners for more student collaborative work to be included in EAP programmes. However, something which is greatly needed is a shared understanding of what collaboration is (and isn’t) in EAP. This paper proposes a working definition of collaborative assignments in EAP, drawing from both the research literature and practitioner experiences. Some practical suggestions for designing, supporting and assessing
collaborative assignments will also be discussed.
is no clear conceptualization in the existing literature of which the authors are aware as to the key features that make a presentation academic. This paper aims to redress that issue with the aim of then evaluating the training materials currently available to help NNES develop their academic oral presentation skills.
The assessment of collaborative assignments is widely recognized in the literature as an area of tension, particularly when it comes to summative assessment. When collaborative assignments are used in EAP programmes, these tensions are manifest. How can we assess students fairly? How can we measure collaboration? How can we differentiate between students or deal with free-riders?
This talk will try to address these tensions, drawing on PhD research into EAP practitioner approaches and beliefs about collaborative assignments. It will discuss research participants’ evaluations of different models of assessment for collaborative assignments, which in turn brings into view their collaborative assessment identity. EAP practitioners are bound by the principles of fairness, transparency and simplicity when it comes to collaborative assignments, which in turn inform three guiding orientations. That is to say that they are reward orientated (wanting to ensure students get the results they deserve), practically orientated (wanting to ensure assessment is feasible and doable) and defensively orientated (wanting to ensure all assessment is rationalized and justified).
The talk will then turn to the collaborative assessment algorithm, which is the series of considerations and decision trees that have to be navigated to develop a robust assessment scheme for collaborative assignments with positive washback. It may not be possible to develop a fully fair assessment scheme for collaborative assignments but through well informed decision making we can ensure such assessments are fairer.
Our chapter described the educational context in Finland and the changes required in the pandemic pivot to online learning. It discussed the need for a shared language and taxonomy around modes of teaching to help discussion towards best practices. We looked at the integration of technology into teaching and necessity to consider the whole student, both in terms of their physical and mental wellbeing. The chapter closed with seven key takeaways to help us adapt and meet other challenges, including those posed by the advancement of AI.
We will discuss the importance of dialogue and the need for practitioners to share experiences. We will then turn to course design and employing Backward Design, to ensure courses are adaptable and flexible. We will also stress the need to focus on wellbeing of both teachers and students through whatever challenges arise. We will highlight the need not to get lost in a myriad of tools and options and to ensure we don’t let useful approaches from the past fall into antiquity in the face of the new. To close we will consider the importance of keeping communication central in the language classroom and appreciate the value of collaborative learning so students can support each other, come what may.
Collaboration is already used in Higher Education and EAP courses and is accepted as a core Global Skill (Oxford University Press, 2019). Indeed, collaboration can be fertile ground of the other 4C’s; communication, creativity, and critical thinking, as well as digital literacies. Despite these affordances, our early research findings into EAP practitioners and student collaboration show a misunderstanding of what it is, with general group work activities and more formalised cooperative or collaborative assignments grouped together in a fuzzy understanding of what ‘collaboration’ is (Bolster & Levrai, 2019). We contend that part of the reason for this lack of clarity is connected to a lack of discussion of collaboration in teaching qualifications or professional development, despite an appetite for it. Rather than approaching collaboration through a principled lens, teachers tend to teach it based on their own experience or through an ‘apprenticeship of observation’ (Lortie, 1975). What is needed is a ‘pedagogy of collaboration’ (Bikowski, 2015), helping teachers to facilitate student collaboration and make effective use of the collaborative technologies available.
The initial findings suggest teachers develop their approach to collaborative assignments organically or through an apprenticeship of observation, basing their approach on their own experiences. This lack of formalised training or professional development around collaborative learning leads to a tension between the research definition and understanding of collaboration and that of practitioners. Collaboration means different things to different people, problematising the development of effective practices which can be shared. It also results in practitioners adopting very different approaches to facilitating collaborative assignments, ranging from the highly hands on, the practitioner operating as an active group member, to the completely hands off, with students left to navigate the process themselves.
The presenters will propose the importance of practitioners developing a shared understanding of collaboration, being open to discussing it, and folding it into teacher training and professional development. They will then discuss practical ways collaborative assignments can be introduced and set up to best prepare students for what can be a challenging, but rewarding, endeavour.
One of the key skills for 21st century learning is collaboration. Collaboration features at every stage in a students’ university degree across disciplines, whether that is undergraduate novice in Social Sciences taking their first steps into academic discourse by writing a group essay or PhD candidates in Engineering working as part of a research project. Being able to work with others to produce a piece of work is an increasingly important skill, both within academia and beyond. However, successful collaboration does not just happen and collaborative assignments require careful planning and scaffolding. This talk will explore the role of collaborative assignments in EAP and the four stages of preparation, set-up, facilitation and assessment.
The preparation stage relies on developing a clear conception of the collaborative assignment and we will be introducing a definition for collaboration in EAP to help with assignment design. The vital set-up stage considers initial steps that need to be taken to help student groups understand the requirements of collaborative assignments and develop positive working relationships. The facilitation stage looks at ways tutors can monitor and support student collaboration, while the final assessment stage considers approaches for assessing an individual in a group effort.
This paper will present early stage results of an ongoing grounded theory study into EAP practitioner attitudes toward student collaboration. We also investigate practitioner attitudes toward collaborative assignments, particularly written assignments such as group essays or reports, as the assessment of a group assignment is an area of particular tension and complexity (Strijbos, 2016).
Purposive sampling was used to target experienced EAP practitioners in different tertiary level institutions with exposure to collaborative assignments, resulting in 32 responses from 14 different countries and interviews with 15 participants (to date). By trying to unpack the attitude of a broad range of EAP professionals, we hope to ultimately find a widely applicable framework that will help us all implement group assignments more effectively.
Early indications from the results are that facilitating group assignments is not a significant feature of EAP teacher training education, or continuing professional development. Rather, practitioners facilitate group assignments based on their own intuition and their own personal experience of working with others, whether positive or negative, rather than through an informed pedagogy.
Unsurprisingly there is a broad range of attitudes to group assignments, from the positive to the wary. Where some practitioners see an opportunity for students to engage with each other and learn from each other, others see the possibility of freeloading and unfair assessment.
Our research is uncovering what teachers really think about group assignments, what they have experienced and what they need to better support students in group work, both in terms of setting up collaborative tasks and assessing them in a fair and principled way.
Having a clear definition of a term allows investigation into best practice and this talk goes on to discuss the implications for practice in terms of assignment design, delivery, and assessment. We will discuss the practicalities of designing and implementing a collaborative assignment. We will also look at how a practitioner can navigate what can be a problematic process and move from being a "guide on the side" (Rummel and Deiglmayr, 2018) to make the most of an innovative approach.
is no clear conceptualization in the existing literature of which the authors are aware as to the key features that make a presentation academic. This paper aims to redress that issue with the aim of then evaluating the training materials currently available to help NNES develop their academic oral presentation skills.
The course has a high level of flexibility and the Sustainable Development Goals are a rich resource which means Develop EAP could be expanded to include discipline specific modules to complement the existing general academic skills course.
The course won the 2017 ELTons Award for Innovation in Learner Resources and is now available for free download on the Resources page.
This is the key question which this publication answers by addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from a pedagogical perspective. Authors from across the world have created a series of engaging and enjoyable classroom activities which address each of the 17 goals. This publication has a twofold aim – to help students learn a language creatively whilst at the same time raising awareness of the SDGs through bringing together a range of innovative ideas for teaching creatively and addressing these key issues.
This publication follows on from the highly successful ‘Creativity in the English language classroom’ which was also edited by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey. Building on the success of the previous book, Maley and Peachey have skilfully selected activities which take the creativity agenda one step further by linking it to the SDGs.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Pub_29200_UN_SDG_creativity_v4S_WEB.pdf
This is the key question which this publication answers by addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from a pedagogical perspective. Authors from across the world have created a series of engaging and enjoyable classroom activities which address each of the 17 goals. This publication has a twofold aim – to help students learn a language creatively whilst at the same time raising awareness of the SDGs through bringing together a range of innovative ideas for teaching creatively and addressing these key issues.
This publication follows on from the highly successful ‘Creativity in the English language classroom’ which was also edited by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey. Building on the success of the previous book, Maley and Peachey have skilfully selected activities which take the creativity agenda one step further by linking it to the SDGs.
The full book can be downloaded from here - https://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/attachments/f004_elt_creativity_final_v2_web.pdf