194


our already-crowded curricula, and EAP teachers already navigate a complex role. Nevertheless, the increasing use of student- led or student-designed curricula and materials can enable the incorporation of topics and activities related to students’ local and external goals. And as Brian Paltridge (2016) has suggested for ESP teachers, some tools that teachers already employ, including reflective journals, learner surveys, goal audits, student-led projects and so forth, could help inform our understanding of students’ aspirations and concerns. Simple adjustments to include questions related to students’ future goals could be added to most of the above. In addition, these common tools can also be adapted to encourage students to consider EAP activities in light of their perceived future needs. Task-based activities that are seen to have a ‘real-world’ focus, such as some team projects, can enable students to bring their imagined community into the classroom and to share concerns and solutions with each other. Writing journals can include prompts inviting students to reflect on how certain aspects of the academic writing they have done for pre-sessional assignments compare or relate to the writing demands of their imagined future professional practice in terms of format and style, or even the skills and strategies required. The two examples provided suggest directions that may further support students’ engagement in class by bringing the imaginary and EAP spheres closer together.


CONCLUSION


This study was small-scale in the data it produced and only provides a preliminary snapshot of some students in business and finance degrees. Even so it might be productive in starting a conversation about the relevance of our EAP students’ imagined communities. English for Academic Purposes programmes already extend beyond the walls of the pre-sessional classroom when we organise social or cultural activities, offer pastoral support and engage with the academic expectations of other disciplines. In some cases, perhaps we could extend our considerations to students’ imagined networks, such as those discussed above, and to the influences of long-term aspirations on their investment in EAP classes. We can begin by acknowledging that these communities have an effect on learning, while taking care not to over- simplify the complex underlying issues such as identity construction, agency, motivation and resistance. Many teachers may already be engaging such practices, and I would welcome further dialogue through BALEAP.


Elisabeth Wilding


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