276


Pete’s comment, in particular, suggests that EAP practice and research inform one another, which again hints at the effective teacher construction running through the interview data.


This effective teacher identity also seemed to be reflected in comments about PhD study. Although participants appeared to view an increase in the number of EAP practitioners engaging in doctoral study as a worthwhile development, many expressed reservations about its value to practitioners. There seemed to be a feeling amongst some participants that EAP is pragmatic and classroom-focused, and that practitioners are teachers rather than academics. They appeared to perceive doctoral work to be more theoretical, and therefore of questionable benefit to EAP practitioners in terms of their professional development. This apparent perception is reflected in the following comment:


I can’t see anyone saying no, there isn’t a place for it, but I can’t personally see what doing a PhD would actually change to my day-to-day job and approach overall. Yes, of course I might learn more about, let’s say assessment […] but then that’s not necessarily going to affect my teaching of essay topics or something.


Paul


For participants expressing this view, the effective teacher identity seems to be more dominant than an academic identity. However, other participants appeared to value the research being done, and expressed the view that experience of PhD study was also beneficial for classroom practice and the knowledge base of practitioners, as exemplified here:


Even if you think it’s divorced from what we do, why would you argue against having more … no, let’s lower standards! […] Even the


Sarah Taylor


argument about making it pragmatic is flawed because you’re going to be teaching students who are going to be doing the same thing, the same process.


Beth


Although interviewees expressed a variety of views regarding more traditional research activities, scholarly activity seemed to comprise an important part of their identities as EAP professionals. Most interviewees mentioned engaging in scholarly activity of some kind, be it reading, attending or presenting at conferences, conducting classroom studies to inform their teaching, or publishing their research. There seemed to be a genuine desire to contribute to scholarship and a sense that it was an important aspect of being an EAP practitioner.


BARRIERS TO EAP SCHOLARSHIP Despite this sense that participants were engaged in scholarly activity, interviewees also mentioned a number of barriers to their engagement, and these relate mostly to the commodification of higher education and of EAP in particular. Some participants described being employed on ‘teaching-only’ contracts that did not allow for research time – which reflects arguments in the EAP literature (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002) − requiring them to commit personal time to scholarly activity (Bell, 2016, Ding & Bruce, 2017), and thus limiting their opportunities to engage in scholarship:


There is a tension between the desire to have staff participate in conferences and then giving them the time and opportunity to do it properly: ‘we want you to do it but in your own time’.


Pete


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