A TALE OF 2 PARTNERSHIPS: THE CHALLENGES OF SMALL-SCALE AND LARGE-SCALE RESEARCH COMMUNITIES WITHIN ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES (EAP)
Mary DavisOxford Brookes International
RESEARCH COMMUNITIES A Virtual Research Community (VRC) is a
group of researchers, possibly widely dispersed, working together effectively through the use of information and communications technology. Within the community, researchers can collaborate, communicate, share resources, access remote equipment or computers and produce results as effectively as if they, and the resources they require, were physically co-located. (VRC Final Report, 2006)
Collaboration..everyone’s view is taken as a contribution to understanding the situation (Winter, 1996)
PARTNERSHIP 1 WITHIN BALEAP
Meeting at BALEAP conference 2007 Researcher – looking for new ways to teach
phrases in writing, and to raise awareness of distinction between academic phrases and plagiarism
Researcher at University of Manchester (Director of Language Centre, PhD Applied Linguistics, developer of Academic Phrasebank (AP) ) developed 2005, looking for ways to research AP, to collect data on effectiveness and to further develop AP
PARTNERSHIP 2 WITHIN BALEAP Research Officer for BALEAP sent out e-mail
survey to discussion group to start a tracking project, October 2008
BALEAP members from 16 UK universities agreed to be in the tracking group
Separated into 2 groups of 16 (the “North” co-ordinated from Sheffield, the “South” co-ordinated from London)
5 dropped out, now all co-ordinated by Sheffield
Universities currently involved: Glasgow, Reading, University of the Arts, London, Kent, Sheffield Hallam, Southampton, Leeds, Exeter, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford Brookes
FUNDING AND SUPPORT
Hard to get funding and support
No funding Minimal support
Easier to get some funding and support
Funding of transport and accommodation to meet
Support from organisation
Recognised as “working party” on BALEAP website
Support for conference based on WP work
Small-scale Large-scale
OBJECTIVES
Specific, focused To investigate the
impact of teaching academic phrases on postgraduate students’ ability to recognise and re-use them
To examine the perceived role and usefulness of academic phrases, according to students and experts
General, less focused
To evaluate the effectiveness of EAP provision by tracking students through degrees
Small-scale Large-scale
COMMUNICATION
Direct, manageable
E-mail Phone meetings
Not direct, unmanageable
Vast number of e-mails Lots of disagreement Gaps in contact Use of new technology
Facebook, Moodle Lots of sharing of ideas
and contexts 2 face-to-face meetings
(London and Sheffield)
Small-scale Large-scale
METHODOLOGY
Easy to agree and plan
Set up in advance Planned specific
activities with Pre-Master’s students
Collection of assignments
Analysis Follow-up interviews
Not easy to agree or plan
No agreement on methodology because of different contexts and views
Examples of methodology shared but not followed
Only similar in principle
Small-scale Large-scale
OUTPUT AND DISSEMINATION
Easier to put together
5 conferences over 2 year period
1 publication accepted, another planned
Harder to get to the point of output and dissemination
One one-day conference planned after a 2.5 year period
Small-scale Large-scale
BENEFITS
Easier to communicate, establish objectives and methodology
Opportunities for attendance at several conferences
Funding, support, useful comparisons of practice across many universities
Able to set up a conference dedicated to the group
Small-scale Large-scale
DRAWBACKS
No funding, little support, a sense of being on one’s own
Harder to communicate, achieve consensus, establish joint objectives, be productive
Small-scale Large-scale
REFERENCES
Morley, J. (2005). Academic Phrasebank. Available at http:www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
VRC Final Report (2006). Report of the Working Group on Virtual Research Communities for the OSI e-Infrastructure Steering Group . Retrieved 30/5/10 from http://www.nesc.ac.uk/documents/OSI/vrc.pdf
Winter, R. (1996). Some principles and procedures for the conduct of action research. In O. Zuber-Skerritt (ed.) New Directions in Action Research. London: Falmer.
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