How do you adapt to different modes of delivery and platforms in EAP teaching?

1 Choose appropriate platforms

Depending on your context, you may have access to different platforms and tools to support your EAP teaching. Some common platforms are learning management systems (LMS), video conferencing platforms, and collaborative tools. When choosing a platform, you need to consider several factors, such as your learning objectives, your students' needs and preferences, your institutional policies and support, and your own comfort level and skills. You also need to ensure that the platform is reliable, secure, and accessible for your students.

2 Align your mode of delivery with your course goals

Different modes of delivery have different affordances and limitations for EAP teaching. For example, online teaching can offer more flexibility, personalization, and interaction, but it can also pose challenges in terms of connectivity, motivation, and feedback. Face-to-face teaching can provide more immediacy, rapport, and scaffolding, but it can also limit the diversity, autonomy, and creativity of your students. Blended teaching can combine the best of both worlds, but it can also require more planning, coordination, and evaluation. Therefore, you need to align your mode of delivery with your course goals and outcomes, and make sure that you use the mode that best suits your EAP content, skills, and assessment.

3 Adapt your pedagogy and materials

Regardless of the mode of delivery and platform, you need to adapt your pedagogy and materials to suit your EAP teaching context. This means that you need to consider how to make your EAP instruction relevant, authentic, and meaningful for your students. You also need to consider how to scaffold your EAP tasks, activities, and assignments, and how to provide clear instructions, expectations, and feedback. Moreover, you need to consider how to use multimodal resources, such as texts, images, audio, and video, to enhance your EAP teaching and learning.

4 Engage your students and foster collaboration

One of the key aspects of EAP teaching is to engage your students and foster collaboration among them. This can help them develop their academic language, communication, and critical thinking skills, as well as their intercultural awareness and competence. To engage your students and foster collaboration, you need to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment, where your students feel valued, respected, and motivated. You also need to design interactive and cooperative EAP activities, such as discussions, debates, presentations, projects, and peer feedback. Furthermore, you need to use various strategies to monitor, facilitate, and evaluate your students' participation and performance.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?