Discussion

Abstract

This chapter aims to answer three research questions to provide an anthropological interpretation of the CETs transiting to teach EAP: RQ1. How do teachers in a pedagogical transition from EGP formulate their epistemology of EAP? RQ2. How does the transition from EGP to EAP influence teachers? RQ3. How do teachers perceive the challenges and opportunities posed by the Shanghai EAP reform? Clues are collected from systematic data comparison within each case study and cross-cases comparison, and integrated with the related literature to formulate holistic answers to the questions, under relevant subheadings. However, it should be noted that all the discussions are based on the existing four cases, and the conclusions made in this chapter may not be generalised to other teachers or contexts.

5.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to answer three research questions to provide an anthropological interpretation of the CETs transiting to teach EAP: RQ1. How do teachers in a pedagogical transition from EGP formulate their epistemology of EAP? RQ2. How does the transition from EGP to EAP influence teachers? RQ3. How do teachers perceive the challenges and opportunities posed by the Shanghai EAP reform? Clues are collected from systematic data comparison within each case study and cross-cases comparison, and integrated with the related literature to formulate holistic answers to the questions, under relevant subheadings. However, it should be noted that all the discussions are based on the existing four cases, and the conclusions made in this chapter may not be generalised to other teachers or contexts.

5.2 How Do the Teachers in a Pedagogical Transition from EGP Formulate Their Epistemology of EAP?

As stated in previous chapters, the majority of the empirical studies relating to EAP teachers in pedagogical transitions from EGP/EFL to EAP have been conducted in the UK. Moreover, the published materials or guidelines for EAP teachers in different settings vary in terms of how prescriptive they are (Ding & Campion, 2016). In addition, there is a lack of empirical data collected from students and teachers of EAP in China (Cheng, 2016); similarly, there is a limited body of published work seeking to understand EAP teachers in pedagogical transition (Ding & Campion, 2016). In order to understand the teachers, and most importantly to assist them to adapt quickly to the new EAP pedagogy, knowing their EAP epistemology is essential.

5.2.1 Knowledge of EAP Is from the Teachers’ Eclectic Theories and Experiences

From the collected data, I observed that the creation of the teachers’ EAP knowledge was not just acquired from referring to published theories or books, and nor did it originate from participants engaged in EAP teacher training sessions; for example, “there was not a guideline or document telling us how we should teach EAP” (Fielding). However, the investigated teachers’ knowledge of EAP did produce somewhat eclectic products from their respective evaluation of the status quo, their own experience of academic research, educational philosophy and their worldview.

In terms of evaluation of students’ status quo, research participant Fielding commented on the dissatisfaction directed towards the current education system for its influence on students:

I want them to become proactive participants rather than what they are in their foundation education years, to accept whatever the authority offers… from the hangover of foundational education in China, Chinese students are used to a state of being passive learners, or consider themselves as receivers, accustomed to being treated as containers (of knowledge) by others (Fielding interview 2).

Differing from Fielding, Rui stated, “I remember a professor who once said that English major students were prone to be short of thinking, so I can deal with such a lack” (Rui interview 3). Another example is Bluewitch, who discovered that “the biggest challenge our teaching is facing is students learning to pass examinations, without examinations they would not learn… they would not learn English until before the exams…” (Bluewitch interview 3), though other issues were also raised by the study participants.

Understanding the characteristics of their students, the teachers interviewed were able to provide a more contextualised EAP pedagogy to cater to their students’ needs. As narrated in the previous chapter, Fielding designed a project-based learning EAP pedagogy to socialise his students and encourage them to become proactive learners. Meanwhile, Rui adopted Russell’s articles and Socratic questioning to enlighten her students about how to think in her EAP lessons, and Bluewitch attempted to construct a researcher’s identity for her EAP students, in order to improve their motivation.

In terms of the academic experience investigated by the teachers when formulating their eclectic EAP knowledge, the majority agreed that they had acquired ideas about EAP from research-related experiences. For example, Fielding reported that when he was told he would be teaching EAP he “started to think about what academic purposes are and to refer to our (his) own learning experience (in postgraduate levels)” (Fielding interview 2). Lisa’s case was even more quintessential; when studying in Birmingham as a visiting scholar, her essay was refused by academic journal editors many times, and later she overcame this problem by imitating others and “learning the patterns used in published work”; or in her own words, EAP means “pretend(ing) to be academic” (Lisa interview 1). Her work was ultimately accepted; therefore, from her perspective, research and publication experience symbolically qualify her as an EAP teacher: “I feel many teachers nowadays, including some of my colleagues in our department, may not have a deep understanding of those academic patterns, unless they have some publication experience” (Lisa interview 1). Based on their own academic experience, Fielding and Lisa co-designed an experiential learning environment for their EAP students to conduct research and write essays, which assisted them when formulating EAP pedagogies for use in their universities. Differing from them, the academic experience of Bluewitch, a full professor, led her to realise the meaning and challenges of being a scholar as she was herself fighting for her academic autonomy; thus, she includes scholarly virtue as a lesson to be learned by all her EAP students.

The EAP knowledge of the investigated teachers was also related to the teachers’ educational philosophy. For instance, Rui as an awardee of the Shanghai EAP teacher award deeply believed that her EAP teaching was education, in which education means “one soul waking up another”, thus she exhibited the characteristics of emotional teaching when engaging with her learners, as discussed in the previous chapter. Fielding, as a believer in Dewey’s learning by doing, led an experiential feature project based on EAP pedagogy. Lisa’s disapproval of the utilitarianism of higher education helped her prescribe the utilitarian tendency of the Shanghai EAP reform and pedagogy, and to add more human content into her teaching and she pointed out that:

[T]his (EAP is a tool to hone academic research, which is potentially beneficial to humanity) is what people failed to understand in EAP, and it is what the policymaker (of Shanghai EAP reform) failed to do… he (the policymaker) merely focused on how to improve students’ academic essay writing, but if we dig into the concept deeper… there is a lot to do (Lisa interview 2).

Bluewitch believes that “university is academic” and many scholars she met in Chinese universities lack a scholarly spirit; and therefore, forming students’ scholarly identity became a key goal of her EAP pedagogy.

Furthermore, teachers’ eclectic EAP knowledge was also formulated by their view of the world, (international education, academics and/or job hunting). For example, Fielding has experience teaching the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), a university entry requirement to study in most Commonwealth countries and North American countries, so he has more experience of teaching students academic English in EAP. Furthermore, Fielding did his Master’s dissertation in the field of higher education in Australia, and read abundant literature regarding international higher education and foreign society, so he is clear of what his EAP students might encounter in their future work or academic studies. As he himself said: “the core of EAP, as I understand, is students being able to use English to understand the world, and to think critically with an international horizon via the lingua franca, which could later equip them to be on the cutting edge in their future work” (Fielding online interview, June 2016).

In her case, Lisa’s EAP concept was also influenced by her experience of international research and attempts at publication, which gave her the basic idea of discursive differences in academic and informal English. While for Bluewitch, after visiting the university in the US, she witnessed how US undergraduate students studied and were taught in an academic university environment. Bluewitch later spoke about her observations with her Chinese counterparts, leading her to formulate her ideas about university education and the goal of EAP: “The reason we offer EAP reform is to give you a tool to master resources from world renowned institutes; EAP is the bridge for equipping you with international horizon; you should not aim only at passing CET-4 and 6”. Her studies in the US also let her study literacy theories from her supervisor, which later contributed to her definition of EAP: “I was wondering: what is literacy? I was searching for meaning and observing his lessons, then I thought literacy might be something based in language but with a meaning above language” (Bluewitch interview 2).

Influenced by the above factors, the participants, respectively, produced an eclectic range of EAP concepts and pedagogies fitting their own contexts and perceptions, as detailed in the chart (Table 5.1).

Table 5.1 The investigated teachers’ definitions of EAP and related pedagogy (Adapted from the four case studies in the previous chapter)

“Eclectic” derives from the word eclecticism, meaning choosing the most appropriate “theories, styles, and ideas in order to gain a thorough insight about the subject and draws upon different theories in different cases” (Alizadeh & Hashim, 2016, p. 12). Although an eclectic approach in English language teaching has been encouraged to meet the ever-changing needs of the classroom context (Bax, 2003), teachers using eclectic knowledge to conceptualise and to teach EAP, as was found in the current research, has not been mentioned by EAP researchers previously; thus, the findings reported here are groundbreaking in this sense.

The above concepts were gradually compiled after extended contact with the participants. Differing from previous studies, such as Alexandar (2012, 2013) and Campion (2012a, 2012b), which explored teachers’ perceptions of EAP through snapshot forms of data collection, like spreading questionnaires and interviews, the current research adopted a prolonged contextualised ethnographic approach, offering additional opportunities for the author to interact with the characters and to enter the field, building up trust and friendships with the teachers, and engaging with them in everyday life. Thus, the answers obtained are deeper and arguably more valid than interviews with an unfamiliar group teacher would have been.

Furthermore, many jargons and terminologies were mentioned by the investigated teachers when explaining their definitions of EAP, and so, without such an anthropological approach, as an armchair researcher and at the same time an outsider, it would not have been possible to develop a full understanding of them. For example, Bluewitch claimed “Trustworthy, knowledge-seeking, truth-pursuing, willingness to share” was the core spirit of her EAP, which seems irrelevant to a common understanding of EAP at first glance. However, after more than a year observing and interacting with her, to understand her struggle for academic autonomy within her department, her pursuit of a scholarly spirit in her EAP learners made perfect sense.

On the other hand, the teachers in the current study might not have developed concepts of EAP, despite putting associated ideas into practice; as they might have gradually generalised their personal perceptions during the researcher’s interactions with them, as a typical feature of interpretivism is the potential for the researcher to influence the research participants and research findings (Creswell, 2013). The results, therefore, differ from those reported by Alexandar (2012, 2013), Campion (2012a, 2012b), and Martin (2014), who all ignored the potential influence of identity on the research participants’ feedback, as stated in their research rationales.

Furthermore, unlike the current research, previous studies (Alexandar, 2012, 2013; Campion, 2012a, 2012b; Martin, 2014) were all decontextualized, and none of the researchers entered the classrooms for an extended period of time to witness the teachers’ EAP real practice. Such a thorough study of the teachers’ EAP epistemology is beneficial for teacher trainers and policymakers to understand the teachers in such EGP–EAP transition. As mentioned by Liu and Xu (2011), it is essential to support teachers in pedagogical transitions. Furthermore, understanding is equally important for the investigated teachers themselves, as Alexandar (2012, 2013) pointed out; teachers knowing their own presuppositions is the first step to embracing a pedagogical change towards EAP.

5.2.2 The Overlap Between the Teachers’ EAP Knowledge and Current Theories

The EAP definitions produced by the respective investigated teachers, although inferred from their own experience and ideology, somewhat overlap with the EAP strands summarized in the literature review.

In terms of EAP as academic literacy, two of the four teachers confirmed the role EAP plays in preparing students for their future academic studies and research. For example, Fielding claimed, “it is English for academic purposes, it is used more frequently in academia and higher education” (Fielding interview 1); while Lisa argued, “I think (EAP) …is what researchers use for doing research…” (Lisa interview 1) She also demonstrated other aspects of EAP similar to those described by Li and Wang as (2016) academic literacy: EAP is also teaching students to disguise their daily register in English, adopting “the patterns used in published work”.

In terms of EAP as a form of disciplinary cultural literacy, Fielding and Bluewitch both note some coverage in this category of EAP: “EAP is based on English teaching, aiming to transfer students’ awareness and identity (as a researcher), helping them to act as a member of academics to solve problems in reality” (Fielding interview 2); “I just feel that establishing a scholarly identity among students is the everlasting mission of EAP teaching; if they (students) consider themselves as scholars and are proud of such an identity, my EAP teaching is successful.” (Bluewitch interview 3). This is similar to Li and Wang’s (2016, p. 15) summary: “EAP is teaching students some common knowledge, meaning of rituals, and epistemology confirmed by/in a discursive culture, in order to help them learn and socialise into the discipline”. Fielding’s definition and PBL pedagogy of EAP involve students doing and writing up research in their related disciplines; similarly, under Bluewitch’s campaign to nurture students’ scholarly identity, some of her students frequently participate in disciplinary work related to English translation projects and research demonstration at conferences. Both teachers’ behaviours involved socialising students as members of their respective disciplines.

In terms of EAP as critical literacy, Li and Wang (2016, p. 15) explained: “EAP aims at giving students a broader concept about the discipline and academic world, so that they may have a clearer understanding of what they are learning without “blind” following, which in return could facilitate their learning.” Lisa’s EAP pedagogy included some components of criticality, enlightening students to think about the function research plays in contributing to the human world (see Lisa’s case); one that potentially raises students’ awareness, encouraging them to be more engaged and motivated to learn EAP. Lisa also commented that such criticality “is what people failed to understand in EAP” (Lisa interview 2) For EAP as digital literacy, Bluewitch even put it as an objective (see Bluewitch’s case).”

Three out of four of the aforementioned teachers’ EAP knowledge overlaps with Li and Wang’s (2016) summary of the field to a different extent, and such results partially contradict Gao and Bartlett’s (2014) assertion that teachers were nebulous about the meaning of EAP during the sudden EAP pedagogical transition in China. The reason for stating “partially against,” is that Rui’s answers and behaviours did not overlap with the four contemporary EAP strands, and Rui seemed to misunderstand EAP as simply teaching critical thinking and formal English discourse, as identified among the examples given by Gao and Bartlett (2014). Compared with the remaining three teachers, mentioned in the last chapter, Rui did not have the experience of conducting empirical research, nor did she have experience in researching and studying, so the result obtained is not consistent with what Martin (2014) reported that academic knowledge is necessary for EAP teachers. This mismatch might be because Martin’s research participants were accessing higher education in UK universities, which have a more established and supportive academic atmosphere than where Rui studied.

On the other hand, though Fielding, Lisa and Bluewitch, respectively, referred to the different extent of coverage of the four strands of EAP as claimed in previous paragraphs, their understandings did not proceed from systematic training, nor did they realise the existence and significance of the remaining aspects of EAP as beyond their perceptions. Therefore, Gao and Bartlett’s (2014) opinions are partially supported in the current study. Perhaps, teachers in the current research confirmed the public as pioneers in their contexts, which might not represent EAP teachers in transition overall, although representativeness is not a requirement of phenomenological ethnography.

5.2.3 Teachers’ Perception of Difference Between EGP and EAP

Similar to Martin’s (2014) discovery of teachers’ perceived differences between EGP/EFL and EAP (differences in disciplinary linguistics), Fielding, in the current study also admitted: “The distinction in their literal meaning, is what I think, the most direct distinction… EAP stresses some different linguistic features, perhaps from the perspective of systematic functional linguistics… yes, discursively different.” Furthermore, another reply from the participants also reflects Martin’s (2014) view of the distinction between EGP, EFL and EAP as relating to the linguist’s ability to analyse different texts and different patterns of language. For example, after teaching EGP for many years, and after receiving several refusals from international journal editors, Lisa found that EAP also means teaching students to disguise their everyday English, by using “the patterns used in published work”.

After several rounds of interviews, Martin (2014) also found that EAP teachers, after transiting from EGP, tended to have increased professionalism and a clearer grasp of students’ development routine, which is also echoed by Bluewitch in the current study. She describes the difference between EGP and EAP as a shift from pedagogy to education; furthermore, Bluewitch claimed her goal is to nurture students’ scholarly identity. Teachers in the current study also established common ground, noting that EGP teaches more English vocabulary and grammar unrelated to any disciplines, e.g. “when I design an EGP course, I stress the linguistic training” (Fielding interview 1), “in the first year of my teaching (EGP), I spent much time teaching language, sometimes a little about culture, but I could never teach beyond them” (Rui interview 2). These results are identical to other differences between teaching EGP and EAP mentioned by Martin (2014) that the teachers transferred from teaching grammar to productive academic skills.

However, the results from the current study contradict Martin’s (2014) opinion that EAP is an extension of EGP. For some of the teachers included in the current research, EAP is not superior to EGP. Although Fielding claimed EAP and EGP are used for different purposes, EGP offers a more humanitarian style of education than EAP, while EAP is utilitarian: “I used to read English novels with students (in EGP), now I don’t think I can… education is missing (in EAP) … disregarding humanity in subjects relate to university education is horrible” (Lisa interview 1).

5.3 How Does the Transition from Teaching EGP to EAP Influence the Teachers’ Career as College English Teachers?

5.3.1 The Transition from EGP to EAP Fulfils the Teachers’ Education Ideals

According to Liu and Xu (2011), competing pedagogies might produce challenges for teachers in transition. Indeed, Alexandar (2012, 2013) reported that pairs of CLT-EAP competing pedagogy made teachers at Herriot-Watt University very uneasy. However, this situation did not affect the teachers involved in the current study. They transit to EAP from EGP as part of the natural process of fulfilling their education ideals, and the reasons for this are given below.

Firstly, the investigated teachers’ EAP epistemology was eclectic and established on the basis that it was a reflection of their EAP experiences. In other words, their EGP teaching to some extent facilitated EAP pedagogies and concept formation. For instance, Fielding’s long years of EGP experience gave him a thorough understanding of Chinese English learners and their educational context, which contributed to his needs analysis of students in relation to EAP pedagogy design, and most importantly, motivated him to use EAP to change the views of Chinese students:

How come Chinese students do not need to investigate a real problem? They need it… in such a globalizing world… (if without it) how can they (students) cooperate with researchers from abroad? … (if without it) they (our students) would be disadvantaged, for they could only write report (for others) … but the idea is other’s, they will never enter the core… to me, a very important part of higher education is socialising (students), I want them to become proactive participants rather than what they were in foundation education (in China) to accept whatever the authority offers (Fielding interview 2).

Similarly, Bluewitch’s EGP experiences made her notice students’ motivation as the upmost challenge to her teaching effects, claiming:

My purpose has always been to improve teaching… At that moment I realised that it is not the vocabulary or my teaching methods that matter; no matter what kinds of teaching method I choose, it will not improve their learning as long as they resist it, because they do not want it (Bluewitch interview 3).

Reflecting on this issue, Bluewitch later integrated what she had learned from the US and designed an EAP course to help build students’ scholarly identity. Thus, for these two teachers, transiting from EGP to EAP is actually an uplifting aspect of their teaching, just as Martin (2014) found, after transiting from EGP, EAP teachers obtained a heightened professionalism.

Secondly, teachers’ education ideology and research background is consistent with their perceived EAP knowledge. Lisa also did not undergo a significant challenge when she was asked to teach EAP. This might have been because she had to extend her view of international education, having learned EAP while preparing to publish when she was studying in the UK. This meant she reflected on many of her ideas before she returned to China and began teaching PBL-based EAP, through which she shares her ideas about learning academic English when conducting research projects. As was the case with Rui, her understanding of EAP contains teaching critical thinking, for which she has a profound foundation of philosophy and literature, which contributes to her EAP teaching. Generally speaking, drawing on their EGP teaching, education and academic research background, all four teachers transited to EAP to enable them to demonstrate and apply their educational ideas and ideals in practice. When the investigated teachers transited to EAP, some of them felt they were overloaded with work; as stated in Lisa’s case, if she canceled students’ intergroup cooperation, her workload would be extravagant. Similarly, before I interviewed Rui, I had already heard that she was always very tired of preparing new EAP lessons. Shanghai EAP Teachers’ overwork and fatigue was mentioned by Wang and Wang (2015). Compared with the finding that EAP teachers draw more on their academic qualifications rather than their TEFL qualifications (Martin, 2014), the current study raised this view as of equal importance to teachers’ non-EAP teaching experience and academic background, when discussing their transition from EGP to EAP.

5.3.2 EGP–EAP Transition as Teachers’ Self-growth

In the current study, the things learned about teachers’ transition from EGP to EAP reflected a feature that previous studies have failed to discover. It is not appropriate to use the simple expression, “smooth” or “insecure” as previous authors did to describe the investigated teachers’ EGP-EAP pedagogical transition. Because, in this research, every teacher experienced an entirely different transitional journey, such that most of their transitions occurred even before the EAP reform. In other words, the investigated teachers either had already realised the necessity of teaching EAP to Chinese students or had begun to apply EAP knowledge even before the Shanghai EAP reform commenced.

For example, Fielding detected the differences between higher education in China and that in abroad when working towards his master’s degree, and he also experienced teaching the international academic English test (IELTS). Thus, long before he started teaching EAP, he had acquired overall knowledge of what a student might need to learn in advance if he/she were to pursue higher education abroad.

Similarly, Lisa was trained to be a researcher when studying in the UK before returning to teach EAP in Shanghai. Bluewitch realised the weaknesses in Chinese scholars’ English academic writing when studying at the East China Normal University as a visiting scholar. By that time, she debuted her first international publication, although her authorship credit had been appropriated by her supervisor, raising her suspicions about the academic integrity of Chinese scholars. Bluewitch’s war for academic autonomy within her own department made her feel disappointed again in the actions of scholars in her context. Moreover, after she had experienced the academic atmosphere at universities in the US, she came to believe that Chinese university students should be trained as academics; an inspiration that was echoed after she found out about the EAP reform in Shanghai. Generally speaking, the transition from EGP to EAP did not happen after the Shanghai EAP reform had commenced. There were examples of personal growth before the reform, and the EAP reform was just a chance for them to apply changes.

However, Rui had never experienced academic research and publication or studying abroad, and despite being a Master’s degree holder in applied linguistics, she remains confused about the aims and significance of EAP. Therefore, at least in the context of the current study, teachers’ academic qualification might not be deemed to be as important as their experiences of academic discourse, just as Martin (2014) observed academic process plays a large part in EAP teaching.

5.3.3 EAP Helped Teachers Boycott Career Crisis

As mentioned in the literature review, there are two kinds of English language teachers in Chinese universities: one group teaching and researching English literature, linguistics or translation, and the other teaching general English to students from non-English majors or college English teachers (CET) (Liu, 2011; Cheng, 2016). The EAP teachers discussed in this research belong to the latter group. CET has entered a period of crisis brought about by the era of booming internet education and abundant resources for learning English. Authors like Borg and Liu (2013) have criticised English teachers for weaknesses in terms of their teaching. Indeed, even Cheng (2016, p. 216) blamed teachers for their “low professional status and their perceived lack of preparedness as English teachers in general, and as EAP teachers in particular”. Another aspect of the career crisis was that described by Liu (2011) as being marginalised: being remote from academic research and unrelated to academic disciplines, being voiceless in changing situations, feeling insecure, fearing innovation and changes to one’s teaching. In short, CETs were treated more as tools than as scholars (Liu, 2011).

As a CET, Bluewitch experienced marginalisation. From her description, she was deprived of the right to choose teaching materials, renaming courses, and was ordered not to teach beyond a certain EGP syllabus, which is what Liu’s (2011) CETs describe as being voiceless in the micro-politics of universities and being treated unlike a scholar. Thus, Bluewitch used EAP to boycott such an unfair treatment, to obtain scholarly autonomy, as stated in the previous chapter. It is therefore understandable that she particularly stressed the nurturing of scholarly identity as a component of EAP. In addition, she proactively organised student research conferences and disciplinary translation projects to, in her words, effect the transformation from pedagogy to education.

Fielding and Lisa both have some features in common with Bluewitch; they use PBL EAP to link students’ disciplinary knowledge, research methods and academic English. Through such an approach, the course becomes important to the students, and the teachers directly participate in students’ learning and future development: “the core of EAP, as I understand, is students being able to use English to understand the world, and to think critically with an international horizon via the lingua franca, which could later equip them to be on the cutting edge in their future work” (Fielding online interview June 2016). These findings, to some extent align with the view that after teaching EAP, teachers have a “heightened sense of responsibility for the progress that students should be making… (and) a heightened sense of professionalism and of having a clear role in students’ development” (Martin, 2014, pp. 309–311).

Using EAP as an opportunity, teachers attempted to overturn this crisis. A career crisis is precisely similar to what their international counterparts are experiencing, like what Hadley (2015) claimed EAP teachers became technicians. However, from the perspective of the current study, the author did not find these EAP teachers, to be members teaching non-English major students English, as they are neither weak in terms of their teaching nor in their research (Borg & Liu, 2013; Cheng, 2016). On the contrary, they have impressive potential. These teachers are neither unclear nor conservative in their career objectives, as pointed out by Liu (2011). The current study demonstrates that these EAP teachers are resilient and open to teaching, regardless of Cheng’s (2016) quoted blame for their low professionalism. The variance in the results might also arise because previous studies were not as prolonged and contextualised as the current research, and were not rendered anthropologically.

5.3.4 EAP Stimulates Teachers to Become Researchers with Visions of Home and Abroad

Based on the case studies presented, successful EAP teachers are not only researchers with the knowledge to conduct and write up research in English, but must also be familiar with higher education internationally. Lisa’s reflection on her international publication experiences when she was in the UK demonstrates the necessity that EAP teachers have an international vision: “I feel many teachers nowadays, including some of my colleagues in our department, may not have a deep understanding of those academic patterns, unless they have some publication experience” (Lisa interview 1).

Simultaneously, those engaged in teaching EAP should be familiar with Chinese English learners in different contexts and with Chinese education, just as Fielding, Lisa and Bluewitch noted when tailoring their EAP pedagogies for their students. Compared with Rui, who did not have much knowledge of higher education abroad, Fielding, Lisa and Bluewitch’s EAP pedagogies were more practical for students to seek for furthering their studies abroad. Such features of EAP teachers were unique to the current study, due to the possible reason that the Chinese education system differs from its Western counterparts and Chinese English learners have unique characteristics. Knowing the significance of EAP teachers’ visions of home and abroad, the university, Fielding and Lisa are based in, regularly sends EAP teachers abroad for relevant training. Similarly, the Shanghai EAP reform committee sometimes invites international scholars to give seminars to EAP teachers across Shanghai. EAP in this sense equips these CET teachers with visions of both home and abroad.

5.4 How Do the Teachers Perceive the Challenges and Opportunities Posed by the Shanghai EAP Reform?

5.4.1 “Teachers Are not Ready”

As mentioned in previous sections, the current EAP teachers in Shanghai are CETs teaching general English. While the investigated teachers have fulfilled some achievements in EAP teaching, as aforementioned, Fielding and his colleagues were not clear of EAP until they deduced their eclectic experiences. Before teachers came to understand EAP, they had been asked to teach it by the education bureau. Even though the EAP reform committee had organised some training, Rui found it lacking in usefulness: “He (the policy maker) is also aware that the teachers are not ready, so he organised many EAP teacher training activities, like the teaching demonstration last year… however, what is your (policy maker) purpose?” (Rui interview 2) Rui was asked to demonstrate for the teachers’ cohort and was even awarded as an example of best practice, but she herself was not clear of the value of attending such training: “we learned from each other (by demonstrating teaching), but what would be the next step we should take?” (Rui interview 2) This perceived lack of training encourages teachers to formulate their own eclectic versions of EAP epistemology.

Furthermore, EAP teachers’ disciplinary knowledge is not consistent with that of their students’. In Lisa’s words, they are confined by the challenges of disciplinary knowledge. The author witnessed these challenges first hand when tutoring Lisa’s students (for details see Lisa’s case). The gap between EAP programs and students’ disciplinary needs was also reported by Campion (2012a, 2012b). Many authors, including Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), Dudley-Evans (2001), Hyland (2006), and Gao and Bartlett (2014) have hypothesised that team teaching between disciplinary teachers and EAP teachers could be a method to overcome the attendant challenges; however, none provided a team teaching pedagogy and their hypothesis was formulated in relation to contexts other than the universities in Shanghai.

5.4.2 Challenges Arising from Limited Resources

On the topic of problems associated with limited resources, and when referring to giving presentations, Lisa identified the issues she faced: challenges resulting from limited research time, challenges related to social resources and challenges associated with the extent of universities’ internationalisation. These issues were listed not only as obstacles for Lisa herself, but for other teachers as well. In terms of the limited timeframe, Lisa mainly intended she would have limited class hours to guide each group to complete their research projects, when she teaches from textbooks, so she was required to sacrifice her spare time to guide her students’ research (for detail see Lisa’s case). From another perspective, Rui pointed out regulated EAP classroom hours were too few for her students to learn:

If you want the students to have a somewhat in-depth thinking capability, which could be attained only by large amount of reading, but our students are busy studying their disciplines, even if I recommend them English books to read, they do not have time… My conundrum is that my students are so busy, I noticed that their timetable is packed… they won’t spend time on English after class, when there are only 4-6 h English lessons per week… they lack the drive and motivation to do extracurricular reading, nor do they have enough time (Rui interview 3).

Lisa and Rui’s feedback demonstrated that when they started teaching brand new English courses at universities, the classroom hours earmarked by the registrars to manage the new EAP course were inadequate. A possible reason for this is that the university was using a same credit calculation system and teaching hours for CET and the new EAP course.

In terms of challenges by social resources, Lisa gave the example of her students encountering unforthcoming situations when attempting to engage in their potential research fields. The students sought a governmental department head for interview, but potential interviewees evaded them and refused to offer constructive feedback. Thus, the students could not achieve valid results, and this led them to feel fatigued by searching for cooperative participants, as they had spent a large amount of time in the community. Thus, they needed to change their research topic. Lisa also offered other examples, as some students were unable to identify a pool of contacts among graduates when planning to investigate the graduate students’ work situation. For example, some students were unable to find cooperative companies with which to perform a case analysis. Lisa did help students to design research methods, or refine their academic English; however, the university was unable to provide adequate resources to enable students to handle their studies. Therefore, on many occasions, social resources were limited to the implementation of EAP. As Lisa stated in her PowerPoint slides in her presentation to other EAP teachers in Shanghai: “If the university does not link educational settings to society at large, how can we as language teachers guide students to do academic social research?” The school–community partnership is thought to be informative and educational for students participating in out-of-school learning (Richmond, 2017). It is also believed to be useful for students learning literacy (Goodman, 2003), and EAP as it comprises multiple literacies, which was stated previously in the literature review, particularly when EAP is delivered in the form of PBL pedagogy. This could be facilitated most effectively if out-of-school settings were provided by the university. A notable aspect of the lack of university–community/enterprise partnership arises from my own observation as a participant in Lisa’s class. After I tutored and commented on many students’ research results, I felt saddened that their research had no aim beyond completing the course; and that there was no opportunity for their constructive findings to be fed back to the research participants.

Bluewitch’s struggle with her department demonstrates how hierarchical bureaucracy in the university setting impinges on scholars’ academic freedom to implement new EAP reforms. Indeed, course titles, teaching contents and textbook activities cannot be decided by Bluewitch the professor, but only after departmental managerial officials agree. Bluewitch might not be the only scholar facing this challenge, other EAP teachers could be in similar situations. The reason for such bureaucracy, according to Douglass (2012), is the highly centralised education system derived from the Soviet model. He claimed the greatest barriers to China developing world-class universities and building a more effective academic environment are “first, the bureaucracy and a continued devotion to hierarchy and ceremonial positions, and second, the lack of academic autonomy, which is vital for institutional management and for individual freedom of faculty and students” (Douglass, 2012, p. 646). Even the government stipulated China 2020 blueprint, aimed at producing world-renowned universities, requires China’s education ministry to give only minimal autonomy to universities (Douglass, 2012).

5.4.3 Potential Gaps for Chinese Students to Study EAP

Rui’s quotations concerning the policymaker revealed her suspicions about the suitability of large scale EAP reform to benefit the majority of non-English major students:

I know that this reform was to improve students’ ability to carry out academic research…just like the example he (the policy maker) often raised of a student named Liu Lu… Liu Lu was good at mathematics even world class, but just due to her weakness in academic English, she could not spread her ideas around the world… what would be the proportion of Liu Lu-like students in the whole population? He should have made the position clearer (Rui interview 2).

In other words, EAP as conceived of in the reform fits the needs of elite students like Liu Lu, yet the policymaker’s intention was to push students from different backgrounds to learn EAP. Rui’s concern also reflected in the views of the other participants. For example, Bluewitch, long before the EAP reform had noticed the passive attitude of most non-English major students with regard to studying English and using English to writing essays. Similarly, at Fielding and Lisa’s university, they used to split newly recruited students into A, B and C English ability groups via exams, and only students from A are permitted to study EAP, although such a division is not recommended by the EAP policy (Cai, 2013). Nevertheless, even when the students are selected in this way, as Fielding and Lisa reported, not all students possess adequate capability or interest.

The teachers’ concerns are reasonable however. Student families’ economic background, English proficiency, career goals and even their cultural backgrounds, to some extent influence the individual’s motivation to learn EAP, which are ignored by the policymakers. Awareness of education and foreign language learning can, therefore, be greatly influenced by the economic development zone in which individuals live (Kennedy, 2001). Most of the population in China who are still living beneath the poverty line (Gao, 2014), aim at escaping poverty by gaining degrees in a university and a well-paid job. Moreover, many non-English major students learn English simply to pass compulsory exams (e.g. CET-4 and CET-6), which are set by a number of universities as a minimal requirement for achieving their degrees. There is also a variation in pre-tertiary English teaching across China’s different provinces. Some (such as Henan and Shaanxi) do not include listening in their National College Entrance Examinations, while Shandong has a listening examination. This, therefore, has implications for the teaching of English, as many students do not begin to learn English until the middle school, while others start in the kindergarten. These factors influence students’ motivation and readiness to study EAP. However, when the policymaker justifies the accessibility of EAP LP in Shanghai, he claims that high-school graduates in Shanghai should already possess sufficient proficiency in English language to learn EAP (Cai, 2012). When emphasising this, he ignores the fact that Shanghai university students might originate from different parts of China and whether they all possess the motivation to learn EAP needs to be carefully considered.

In comparison with the size of China’s population, the ratio of those pursuing further education abroad is relatively small: in 2013 it comprised 413,900 students (01/07/2015, URL: www.career.eol.cn), including those seeking training and pre-tertiary level education. The proportion of students gaining a Master’s degree and a Doctorate in China is not large; 1,760,000 took a national postgraduate exam in 2013, but the actual number enrolled was 579,000 (01/07/2015. URL: www.sina.com). Both the figures for those studying abroad and those intending to pursue their Master’s degree is small compared to the total number of university graduates, which is above 7,000,000 (01/07/2015, URL: www.career.eol.cn). Although this rough statistical comparison appears not to be rigorous, and is unable to inform generalisations in every case, it reveals some aspects of the phenomenon. This, therefore, leads to questions over how many students will ultimately need EAP, when the EAP policymaker intends to have all non-English major students learn EAP at universities in Shanghai.

According to Cai (2012, 2013), students are expected to start learning EAP from the start of their studies. Many students are unclear about their majors, and lack any planning of their future careers when just being enrolled into university. It is unrealistic to expect such students to have a strong motivation for learning EAP for the purposes of undertaking research in their field at that moment. It is generally a long and difficult process before they begin to accept a new field (Gregoire, 2003).

Even if students are willing to study EAP, there are underpinning cultural differences that might pose challenges for them, and thus they need intellectual scaffolding and awareness-raising. A number of lecturers have complained that many of their Chinese students do not produce clear arguments (Liu & Stapleton, 2014). This is because avoiding conflict is an important component of traditional Chinese culture. Those in Ancient China shared many collective characteristics with other agricultural communities (Nisbett, 2003; Osterloh, 1996), leading them to seek unity and harmony, and as members of traditional agricultural communities they need to rely upon (and cooperate with) each other for farming, hunting, fishing and harvesting (Nisbett, 2003). Typically, Chinese people resolve conflict through a process of dialecticism, rather than by facing contradiction (Nisbett, 2003).

Nisbett (2003, p. 18) also raises the point that: “The Chinese are disinclined to use precisely defined terms or categories in any arena, but instead use expressive metaphoric language”. In English academic writing, terminology can be indicative of the writer’s authority (Ivanic, 1998) and an indicator of disciplinary identity. Thus, students in a Western context are frequently encouraged to refer to the most recent source; however, the Chinese rely on classical and time-honoured quotations (Maley, 1996). Chinese perceptions of teaching English literature also differ: Maley (1996) states that the aim of Western educationalists is to nurture students’ literacy and critical thinking for the future. However, Chinese teachers often emphasise the role of the author, the time of writing and the literary merit attributed to the work. This difference is essential in a reading class. When reading academic books (or other materials) Chinese students tend to regard published works as ‘holy’ and ‘impeccable’, preferring to rote learn, or remember, as much of these key texts as they are able. Their Western counterparts, on the other hand, are taught to be suspicious of some authors’ opinions and might readily build on them or challenge them (Maley, 1996). Chinese students tend to think of reading as word-by-word intensive reading, while in the West, students are expected to extract the parts of a text they feel are useful, critical, or interesting for their own academic purposes (Maley, 1996) (i.e. they may decide to read an abstract, literature review, a methodology or a discussion to further their own research).

Overcoming some of these cultural differences is integrated into the teaching objectives of the Shanghai EAP reform policy, to avoid misunderstandings among students as they pursue careers in academia. On this subject, Gardener (1992, p. 81) quotes from one of his Anglophone mature students in the process of learning to produce English in an academic format for higher education: “we do change our speech…there is strain attached to it, though, and the strain is caused by feeling pretentious and false”. Similarly, Ivanic and Roach (1990) employed a number of metaphors to describe the struggles mature students encounter concerning identity when approaching students’ academic writing. These are contrasted with running a marathon while being 10 stone overweight; being a string puppet; being an alien from another planet; and being a junk food addict at a vegetarian conference. Even English native speakers encounter challenges when learning to use EAP. Thus, when confronted by a new field, learners might experience unease, feel strange, unsafe or even lose confidence, or other symptoms associated with identity crises (Ivanic, 1998, p. 12), resulting from a “mismatch between the social contexts which have constructed their identities in the past and the new social contexts into which they are entering.”

However, becoming accustomed to new values is a long and arduous process (Ohlsson, 2009). Therefore, if a course can accommodate new values and identity and raise students’ awareness of the potential differences in Chinese learning styles and EAP, the learning effect would be enhanced. As Bluewitch has been working to bridge the gap between university courses in China and the university courses internationally, she created a WeChat official account regularly sending students materials, including the series: “World outside China”, “the educational philosophy of EAP”, “Listening to TED presentations and practicing thinking”, “previous students—new students communication forum”, and most importantly, an “EAP multiple literacy pilot learning summer workshop” designed for high school graduates to take before the EAP course.

5.4.4 Problems with the Shanghai EAP Reform Policy from Teachers’ Perspectives

5.4.4.1 Phenomenon One: Seeing the Shanghai EAP Policy from Fielding’s Perspective

Fielding informed me that while he and his colleagues supported the reform, they disagreed to how EAP has been defined and how it should be taught according to the reform guidelines: “we agree with him (the policy maker) that EAP should be taught in universities, but I disagree with his (the policy maker) ideology and approach.” Fielding blamed the EAP policymaker for trying to confine EAP to academic skills and academic language learning: “His (the policy maker) suggested EAP pedagogy is skill based… perhaps it is under the framework of SFL, due to his (the policymaker) background as a linguist, and he is more likely to teach EAP from a linguistic perspective”. By negating the policymaker’s EAP pedagogy, Fielding justified how his PBL approach to EAP teaching made sense in his context:

[A]s a linguist he is more likely to teach EAP from a linguistic perspective… but success for a person arises from the combination of all their different abilities, even though students can produce abundant vocabulary in an accurate register, they are not able to have their own ideas, and are unable to communicate, unable to do research, and unable to propose their own arguments in a group discussion… thus, they (students) will ultimately turn into craftsmen rather than masters (of academia) (Fielding interview 2).

Mentioning the passivity of Chinese students in learning, in contrast with the Shanghai EAP policymaker’s approach, neglecting those students engaged in academic research, he also seemed a little excited:

To me, a very important part of higher education is socialising (students), I want them to become proactive participants rather than what they were in foundation education (in China) to accept whatever the authority offers; particularly, in such a booming internet world, in such circumstances, how many teachers can claim they are authorities, when students can google everything out… (Fielding interview 2).

Fielding’s disagreement with the Shanghai EAP policymaker’s EAP ideological approach, is a key argument taking place in the EAP field; i.e. whether EAP should teach students skills or socialise them so that they can participate in disciplinary activities. Just as the ring graph below shows, disciplinary socialisation is actually an approach to EAP that engulfs the skill-based EAP advocated by the Shanghai EAP policymaker (Lea & Street, 2000; Hyland, 2006) (Fig. 5.1).

Fig. 5.1

Hyland’s categorisation of EAP (Source Adapted from Hyland, 2006)

An early definition referred to EAP as “teaching English with the specific aim of helping learners to study, conduct research or teach” (Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001, p. 8). Seen from this perspective, language ability is regarded as a central concern of EAP. Thus, language programs have been created according to the belief that learning a set of language skills is essential. However, with additional changes in diverse educational contexts, a traditional focus on generic linguistics skills, that is transferrable within disciplines is not possible (Hyland, 2012), because language, largely is decided by disciplinary practices. Therefore, a more closely combined EAP program with disciplinary specificity becomes important.

This stage marks EAP as disciplinary socialisation, in which students begin as novice members of the discourse community supervised by more senior members, echoing Fielding’s claim that it is important to socialise students into academic research via PBL EAP. EAP has undergone four different stages, academic literacy, disciplinary cultural literacies, critical literacy and digital literacy, and the skill-based EAP recommended by the policymaker in Shanghai. It is not wrong for EAP policymakers in Shanghai to embrace a certain school of EAP, but from Fielding’s perspective, teachers aiming to put the policies into practice are receiving insufficient practical guidance.

The disparities between the Shanghai EAP policymaker’s and Fieldings’ perspectives inform the nature of the debate about how learning should happen. For example, when Fielding advocated students learning EAP via a contextualised experiential PBL pedagogy, the policymaker (Cai, 2013) recommended a traditional classroom-based teacher-centred knowledge disseminating mode. The humanistic learning theorist Rogers and Freiberg (1969) pointed out that learning through experience, and learners taking control of their learning process is significant for learners; on the contrary, being a passive learner cannot facilitate learning, as this is similar to Fielding’s opinions about teaching EAP and their solutions for passive Chinese students. Roger’s followers, such as Norton (2010), claimed that an important approach to improving language teachers’ English learning is to ensure students have ownership of related discourse, in other words, that they become members of the discourse community, just as Fielding urged his EAP students to become directly involved in social research.

In the context of EAP in China, no matter the reform at Tsinghua University or EAP reform in Shanghai, when seen from the perspectives of Gao and Bartlett (2014), they both embrace a lecture mode or traditional knowledge delivery teaching method, lacking the stress of learners’ learning autonomy in participating academic activities.

5.4.4.2 Phenomenon Two: Comparing the Shanghai EAP Policy with Bluewitch’s EAP

Recognising the skill-focused nature of the Shanghai reform policy, Bluewitch also proactively encouraged students to complete research and report on their studies at student-run research conferences. In particular, she arranged EAP students to prepare English–Chinese translations for disciplinary projects; although similar to Fielding’s, Bluewitch’s EAP emphasis was on allowing students to develop their identities as academics, to spur on their meta-learning. The reason why Bluewitch designed these courses was because of their determination to change students learning so that it would not just be useful for passing exams and so that it would target more at the minimal requirements to achieve a qualification (for details see Bluewitch’s case). As discussed in previous sections, the Shanghai EAP policymaker was seeking to distribute an idealised view of knowledge in the context of academic research to newly enrolled college students, many of whom have never thought about pursuing a higher degree abroad. Thus, there is a mismatch between the target student community and the educational aims. Indeed, even though the policymaker is determined to change and elevate the students so that they become self-determined researchers, his expectation that students acquire multiple EAP skills when they have only recently commenced their university studies is unrealistic.

Humanistic psychologist Maslow’s (1968) hierarchy of needs offers a clearer explanation of this situation. As analysed in the previous chapters, the majority of students in Chinese universities must meet the basic requirement of seeking out jobs to feed themselves, rather than engaging in long-term pursuit of academic accolades.

When they are recruited to universities, the majority of students’ higher education needs are indistinct, although they can be aligned with the base level of the pyramid, physiological needs; i.e. the security brought by a job. However, learning to conduct research fulfils higher level needs, for example, self-actualisation, at the peak of the hierarchy, consisting of cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualisation and transcendence (Gould, 2012). These are intrinsic motivations, echoing the individual’s preparedness to study academic research; underpinning knowledge and meaning, self-actualisation is intended to fulfil personal goals to effect growth (Gould, 2012). While physiological demands might only motivate students to pass their course or learn some superficial skills, on some occasions lead to academic misconduct, such motivation does not encourage students to devote themselves seriously to research.

In order to transcend students’ physiological needs by motivating them to pursue higher level needs like self-actualisation is not impossible, as outlined in Rogers et al. s’ (1989) complement of humanistic learning theory. He stated that everybody has a tendency to self-actualise, and that this tendency would direct self-determination; i.e. who they want to become, and how they think they can attain such an identity (Rogers et al., 1989). For example, Bluewitch’s approach aims to lead students to realise such transcendence, by recognising the differences between learning styles in secondary school and in universities, the differences between Chinese universities and those in the west, and why students at universities should become scholars, and how they should behave as scholars. Bluewitch’s EAP pedagogy reflects what Rogers and Freiberg (1969) assumes to be useful in establishing an environment to facilitate learning for self-actualisation. However, without any psychological scaffolding for students to transcend from the lower level of the needs hierarchy to a higher level, the Shanghai EAP policymaker, working on behalf of the Shanghai Education Bureau, required universities to abandon their original English curriculum for non-English majors for a skills-based EAP curriculum.

Since the 1990s, there have been many educational reforms in the Asia-Pacific region; however, according to Cheng (2005), many of these resulted in failure. According to Cheng (2005), the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the fast pace of change in the global environment led to a reliance on outdated traditional methods, despite attempts to bring a new educational paradigm to fruition. Kennedy (2011) further adds that the changes within society have affected policymakers to varying extents, particularly, language policymakers, who require a thorough understanding of the changes that have taken place and their implications for the delivery of an appropriate language policy.

The 1970s witnessed the first paradigmatic shift, emphasising the effectiveness of education as potentially improved by elevated teaching and learning. The associated changes reflected the belief that external interference and appropriate input could fundamentally alter effectiveness, and educational goals were regarded as “static, clear, and commonly accepted”. The next wave of educational paradigm shifts occurred in the mid-1980s, and concerned “school-based management, quality assurance, accountability, and stakeholders’ satisfaction; while the third stage resulted from emphasis on globalization, aimed at nurturing future citizens, and value creation” (Cheng, 2005, p. 3). We are currently experiencing the transitioning from the second to the third paradigm shift (Cheng, 2005). This new paradigm is multifaceted in terms of its influence on educational aims, and the learning and teaching environment.

The Shanghai EAP policy (Cai, 2012) is intended for delivery in the form of classroom-based EAP courses, and assumes that students will acquire knowledge from teachers and classroom materials. However, the new paradigm expects multiple sources of input, rather than simple classroom instruction (Cheng, 2005). Fielding and Bluewitch have done this to some extent by offering learning resources to EAP students outside the classroom. In terms of learning, according to Cheng (2005), the traditional aim of education is to focus on nurturing citizens by sharing knowledge and skills, as is intended by the Shanghai EAP policy in reference to students’ academic skills. However, where an education policy simply equips people with skills and knowledge, it must also view learning as an opportunity to deliver “economic and social aspects at a certain stage” (Cheng, 2005, p. 28).

Furthermore, in terms of paradigmatic shifts in teaching, the new paradigm implies lifelong learning by arousing curiosity (Cheng, 2005). Lifelong learning and curiosity are subjects not considered in any EAP literature, and so seem irrelevant to academic research. However, it is a person’s self-agency and desire to change the society driven in part by curiosity, which eventually helps him/her make ethical decisions, uncover hidden ideologies and nourish research. In practice, Bluewitch’s EAP pedagogy aims to establish students’ scholarly identity, ensuring their lifelong learning, and to nourishing their meta-learning as independent researchers. Thus, a teacher-centred, skill-bounded standard and site-bounded teaching of EAP in Shanghai would be considered outdated, and not consistent with the aims of the reform policy.

5.4.4.3 The Utilitarianism of the EAP Course: Seeking Humanity

The investigated teachers criticised the EAP course for focusing on teaching the students skills in a utilitarian manner: “He (the policy maker) was positive that the EAP reform was practical… He never mentioned how the humanity of students could be improved by learning such a course” (Rui interview 2); it “is missing out some educational elements; it is so instrumental that it starts to become utilitarian, which is so horrible… deserting humanity… it (EAP) would become just an instrument and it makes students utilitarian” (Lisa interview 1); “influenced by the negative environment, education has become utilitarian and short-sighted, and so it is my responsibility to lead students to think responsibly and uprightly” (Fielding online interview June 2016). The criticism of EAP as lacking in humanity revealed in this research is also commented upon by Wang (2013), who claims the utilitarian features of EAP should be complemented with humanity.

Demonstrating the value of humanity in scholarship, in the last of Lisa’s observed classroom sessions she showed her students a video enlightening them as to the purpose of academic research; suggesting the purpose of research is to help people and change the world for the better (for additional details, see Lisa’s case). In the final observation of Fielding’s class, he also raised thought-provoking questions to his students, for example, asking: “Is it ethical for you to sell cigarettes to those who are not aware of the bad effects of smoking, like young people?” “Is McDonalds ethical when selling children junk food with toys?” “A US company manufactures pesticide, although their products were banned from use in the States. Is it ethical for them to sell the products in India?” By asking his students to reflect on issues of commercial ethics, he was warning his students not to become “exquisite egoist(s)”; he wanted his students to become responsible academics (see Fielding’s case). Bluewitch is even clearer when specifying that she wants her students to develop a scholarly spirit: “Trustworthy, knowledge-seeking, truth-pursuing, willingness to share” (Bluewitch’s post in WeChat, December 2015).

Being responsible academics, changing society and benefiting humanity, appears to describe the intention behind the teachers’ words in the preceding paragraphs when describing the importance of humanity in EAP. Although this might not seem to relate to the current trends descried in reference to EAP literacies, in the context of China, it could be considered risky to teach students multiple literacies without emphasising the ethical and moral components associated with humanity. Indeed, accusations of a lack of academic ethics have previously been targeted at the academic community in China (Douglass, 2012; Beach, 2013). Historic examples from China of academic misconduct are diverse, ranging from copyright offences, to plagiarism, commissioning ghostwriters, buying other people’s products, faking transcripts and faking degrees (Beach, 2013).

The problems above are exacerbated by competition. China has one of the largest populations in the world, and is home to more than 2000 tertiary institutions, with estimates suggesting that by 2020 there will be 195 million graduates surging towards the job market (Bradsher, 2013). Thus, the job market is fiercely competitive, and job seekers with undergraduate degrees; and even postgraduate degrees are not rare. At the end of the twentieth century, China’s government enlarged their university enrolment rate by 470% (Jacques, 2009), leading some to doubt the quality of higher education output. These factors contribute to students having utilitarian attitudes towards education and learning (Beach, 2013). This leads to the question: If EAP students, future academics, are well equipped with techniques for doing research and writing papers, but perform research to benefit themselves only, who will speak out for the needs of society? Therefore, Lisa told me she views EAP as a tool to hone academic research, which is potentially beneficial to all humanity.

On a more philosophical basis, the aforementioned utilitarianism, or rational approach to knowledge the Shanghai EAP reform policy pursues is a by-product of the dissemination of neoliberalism throughout higher education. Neoliberalism, sometimes termed social Darwinism, conveys the view of “see(ing) competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merits and punishes inefficiency” (Monbiot, 2016, April 15). Higher education is inevitably influenced by neoliberalism (Steger & Roy, 2010), seeking to offer vocational training for students, by equipping them with cookie-cutter knowledge, so they can perform in different posts after graduation. This phenomenon is particularly apparent among low ranking universities, they use students’ hopes (that a degree will assist their job hunting) as bait to attract student enrolments (Hadley, 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to consider that teaching students practical EAP skills will help students with their job hunting, and that this is perhaps the logic of Shanghai EAP policymaker.

In humanism, knowledge resulting from the human experience multiplies sensitivity, the latter meaning the reflection and realisation of experience (Harari, 2016). Human experience counts as the foundation of learning: “learning is facilitated when the learner participates in the learning process responsibly”, “When the learner chooses their goals, discovers learning resources, formulates problems, decides on a course of action, and lives with the consequences of each of these choices, then significant learning occurs” (Rogers, 1967, pp. 157–164, cited in Gould, 2012, p. 83). Thus, humanistic philosopher Rogers (1995) points out that universities pay too much attention to rational knowledge delivered by professors or other disciplinary experts, often ignoring the significance of students’ authentic experience and reflections upon learning. Without such processes, in Rogers et al.’ words (1989), the self-actualisation of students’ potentiality cannot be guaranteed. An important characteristic of researchers being self-actualised is an active concern for the “welfare of humanity” (Maslow, 1967, cited in Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, & Loftus, 2009, p. 487). Just as those who use their academic knowledge to produce fake essays and those who use their academic writing skills to get paid and write for students, or those who engage in other academic misconduct are not actualising themselves as true researchers and are not concerned with the welfare of humanity.

However, to date, almost all EAP pedagogy, even that stressing disciplinary socialisation, remains a classroom-based method involving reading and learning from selected materials. Even though the classroom environment and materials are simulating they do not guarantee the same learning effect as authentic contexts (Freedman & Adam, 1996). Furthermore, reading literature and writing up research papers is just one component of the academic research process; researchers need to either experiment, enter the field or conduct interviews to address real-world problems. Isolating students into classrooms would lead to learning without participation in students’ experiences; in other words, the curriculum lacks humanity (Rogers, 1967). Echoing with calls from Grasso and Martinelli (2010), King, Miller, and Klawe (2010) report that today’s professional education should not only incorporate subject knowledge, but also affordances for wider society; thus, EAP as initial training for future researchers should extend beyond the utilitarian.

5.5 Summary

When answering the first research question: How do the teachers in pedagogical transitions from EGP formulate their epistemology of EAP? the current study found the investigated teachers’ EAP knowledge was derived from eclectic theories and personal experiences, although to a large extent these overlapped with contemporary theories. However, the investigated teachers’ perceptions of differences between EAP and EGP were not totally consistent with the existing research. In terms of how the transition from teaching EGP to EAP influences teachers, the current study found that the pedagogical transition fulfilled teachers’ education ideals and promoted their personal growth, as they overcame what might have been a career crisis through the acquisition of EAP teaching methods. In answering to the third research question: How do the teachers perceive the challenges and opportunities of the Shanghai EAP reform? there are problems arising from the unpreparedness of students, the lack of training opportunities for teachers, poor coordination of resources, mismatches in policy and a lack of humanity integrated into pedagogy.