English for Academic Purposes Examination in Doctoral Education in Latvia and Russia: A Comparative Study
Author(s):
Jelena Zascerinska (presenting / submitting) Natalia Andreeva Andreas Ahrens
Conference:
ECER 2013
Network:
21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G 04, Research in Education

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-10
09:00-10:30
Room:
A-104
Chair:
Véronique Czáka

Contribution

The society is enriched by open-minded and internationally experienced academics and doctoral students. Contribution of open-minded and internationally experienced academics and doctoral students to the development of society is linguistically mediated. Particularly, English for Academic Purposes as an international language has become topical in the academic dimension of the society’s development in order to provide cultural dialogue and mutual understanding between its contributors. Further on, English for Academic Purposes has close inter-relationships with

-          content-based second language instruction (Dudley-Evans, John, 1998),

-          integrated content and language instruction as well as

-          content and language integrated learning.

Many researchers agree that English for Academic Purposes plays a significant role in the academic development of society. Therefore, English for Academic Purposes in doctoral education has increasingly gained research interest. Traditional research activities in the field of English for Academic Purposes focus on the analysis of genre, register and discourse, choice of topics, placement tests and pedagogy as well as academic writing and listening. Analysis of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education has attracted a little research attention. Such an empirical lacuna regarding English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education has to be filled in as English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education has a two-fold role:

      English for Academic Purposes examination is an obligatory examination which serves as the final assessment of the doctoral student level achieved in a course,

      English for Academic Purposes examination is a specific form (Mafa, Gudhlanga, 2012) used to re-shape the English for Academic Purposes course in doctoral education.

The research question is as follows: What model of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education might be useful in re-shaping English for Academic Purposes examination?

The aim of the research is to analyse English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education in Latvia and Russia underpinning elaboration of a hypothesis on the model of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education.

The theoretical framework of the present research includes the meaning of the key concepts of examination, English for Academic Purposes, model and doctoral education studied. The theoretical framework of the present research presents

-          examination as a form of students’ assessment (Mafa, Gudhlanga, 2012),

-          English for Academic Purposes as those communication skills in English which are required for study purposes in formal education systems” (Jordan, 1997),

-          components of English for Academic Purposes such as common core and subject –specific (Jordan, 1997),

-          model as a conceptual representation of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education with such components as the essence of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education, its structure and procedure,

-          doctoral education as a level of higher education in lifelong learning,

-          construct (Coe, 2010) as the basic unit of analysis and comparison while the term “criterion” is defined as the key element to structure the object of the analysis and comparison, and the term “indicator” - as the component to determine developmental dynamics of the object of the analysis and comparison.

Method

Comparative study as a qualitative research design has been employed (Flick, 2004). The exploratory type of the comparative study has been applied (Phillips, 2006). The exploratory type of the comparative study aims to generate new hypotheses and questions (Phillips, 2006). The exploratory methodology proceeds as follows (Phillips, 2006): - ‘conceptualisation’ in Phase 1, - detailed description of educational phenomena in the countries to be investigated, with full attention paid to the local context in terms of its historical, geographical, cultural, political, religious, and linguistic (etc.) features in Phase 2, - the data collection in Phase 3, - explanation through the development of hypotheses in Phase 4, - re-consideration of the initial questions and application of the findings to other situations in Phase 5. Theoretical methods: analysis of theoretical sources and documents. The empirical study was conducted at the University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia and Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia. Interpretative research paradigm has been used. Empirical methods of the study include - educators’ semi-structured interviews as a method of data collection, - analysis of educators’ expressions as a method of data processing, - structuring and summarizing content analysis and inductive category formation as the methods of data analysis.

Expected Outcomes

The findings of the research allow drawing the conclusions that English for Academic Purposes examinations in doctoral education are relevant to the local contexts of Latvia and Russia in terms of educational policy and their cultural and linguistic experience. Constructs of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education in Latvia and Russia are described. Validity and reliability of the research results have been provided by involving other researchers into several stages of the conducted research. External validity has been revealed by international co-operation. The following hypothesis has been formulated: the format of English for Academic Purposes examination in doctoral education is efficient if it describes - the content of English for Academic Purposes examination, - the procedure of English for Academic Purposes examination, - timing of English for Academic Purposes examination. The present research has limitations. The inter-connections between examination, English for Academic Purposes, model and doctoral education have been set. Another limitation is the empirical study conducted by involving only the educators of two educational institutions in two countries. Empirical studies in other institutions are proposed to be carried out. A comparative research of more different countries could be carried out, too.

References

Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes: A Guide and Resource Book for Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Dudley-Evans, T., John, M. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes. A multi- disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. Coe, R. (2010). Understanding Comparability of Examination Standards, Research Papers in Education, v25 n3 p271-284 Sep 2010. Mafa, O., Gudhlanga, E. S., (2012). Examination Management as a Way of Achieving Quality Assurance in ODL Institutions: The Case of Zimbabwe Open University Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, v13 n2 p147-157 Apr 2012. Phillips, D., (2006). Comparative Education: method. Research in Comparative and International Education, Volume 1, Number 4, 2006, 304-319 Flick, U. (2004). Design and Process in Qualitative Research. In: U. Flick, E. Von Kardoff and I. Steine (Eds). A Companion to Qualitative Research, pp. 146.-152. SAGE, UK, Glasgow. 432 p.

Author Information

Jelena Zascerinska (presenting / submitting)
Centre for Education and Innovation Research
Higher Education
Riga
Natalia Andreeva
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Russia
Andreas Ahrens
Hochschule Wismar, University of Technology, Business and Design, Germany
Engineering Faculty
Wismar

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