Degree
Master of Education
Program
Education
Supervisor
Dr. Paul Tarc
2nd Supervisor
Dr. Suzanne Majhanovich
Co-Supervisor
Abstract
The trend toward greater enrolment of EFL speaking international students into institutions of higher education (IHE) in the West, is well documented. In response to this drive for greater levels of international participant, a newer trend has arisen: among these institutions more and more students who do not meet the language proficiency criteria are being accepted on the condition that they undergo and complete programs at specified language education institutions.
This shift in cross-border EFL student enrolment practice is responsible for the creation of adjunct language schools, where students who have been accepted to a given university may be educated in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) on the campus itself. In Canada, the completion of such an adjunct EAP bridge program eliminates the need for an EFL student to retake any of the recognized English proficiency tests -- such as the IELTS -- in order to commence their intended academic programs.
While the student perspective in study abroad has been researched and reported in a significant number of contexts, the adjunct EAP student experience is not quite like any of these other contexts. Thus far, little research attention has been paid to the lived experience of cross-border language learners who are attending adjunct EAP programs. In consideration of the rapid growth in the number of EAP initiatives, and the evolving nature of EAP education, this research seeks to encounter, document, and interpret the voices of those students for whom adjunct EAP programs are one of the only ways to enter IHE. This study reports on why these students come, what they hope to achieve, what they experience upon arrival, and how their intercultural participation and learning is enabled and constrained in their in-school and out-of-school lives.
Recommended Citation
Plonski, Joan M., "Intercultural Experience and Learning Among EAP International Students" (2019). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 6066.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/6066
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