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A collaborative online reading
and research project

Jody Gilbert

Introduction
In general English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes, the overarching goal is
to prepare non-native speaker students for the language demands and cross-cultural
challenges of typical undergraduate coursework in English-medium post-secondary
institutions. Today, this coursework includes an expectation that faculty and students
will use a variety of technologies to support teaching and learning, including internet-
based research sources.

This paper describes the conception and implementation of an EAP reading
project designed to help students develop effective online reading and research
skills. In addition to providing opportunities to practise traditional reading skills
such as skimming, scanning, and critical reading, the project aims to help learners
gain autonomous strategies for evaluating the credibility of online information.
A student-centred, experiential learning approach to instruction framed the design.
This required students to do most of the project work online, and involved a blend
of face-to-face activity in computer labs along with out-of-class online collaboration.

Teaching context

The University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, operates a small EAP programme
for undergraduate-bound students who have not yet met the English language
proficiency requirement for undergraduate admission. Completion of the Advanced
level of the University’s EAP programme is one option for satisfying this requirement.
The EAP programme has a modular structure consisting of four courses at three
levels. Each course (Grammar, Reading, Writing, Communication) is normally taught
by a different instructor, for five classroom hours each week. EAP semesters run
three times per year, for 13 weeks, with class sizes generally ranging between ten
and 18 students. Historically, the majority of students come from China, Korea,
and Japan.

All EAP classrooms have networked computers and data projectors. The majority of
students have their own laptop computers with wireless internet access. There is also
excellent access to computer labs and networked computer stations throughout the
campus. Hardware in the labs is updated annually, and all labs have data projectors
and whiteboards. The university supports Moodle as its official online course
management system.

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