EAP in Ireland 2019 Annual Conference
English in Academic Contexts: Drivers of Collaboration, Innovation and Creativity
October 5, 2019
Western Gateway Building, University College Cork
2019 Conference Schedule (speaker names and titles of talks): 2019 Conference Schedule
To register for the conference please follow this link: Link to Eventbrite Registration
Plenary speakers:
Karl Kitching, University College Cork
Title: Teaching English and Teaching Against Whiteness
Karl Kitching is Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and University College Cork, and is a Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Education. His research focuses on the politics of racism and whiteness in education, most particularly in school settings and child cultures. Amongst his publications, Karl is the author of two books, The Politics of Compulsive Education: Racism and Learning Citizenship (2014, Routledge) and the forthcoming Childhood, Religion and School Injustice (2020, Cork University Press).
Alex Ding, University of Leeds
Title: Foreclosing on our future? Responding to Neoliberal EAP
It is axiomatic that EAP, in the UK and elsewhere, has flourished due to governments and avaricious universities aggressively competing to capture increasingly large numbers of international students for (mainly) financial reasons. And, it would seem, EAP is dependent on an insidious and debilitating ideology of neoliberalism to exist. These are troubling thoughts, ones that present existential and material risks for practitioners and praxis.
In this keynote I begin by briefly outlining the key nefarious features of neoliberalism and its structural impact on EAP practitioners. I will argue that there is a persistent threat of the foreclosure of possible agentive, professional and academic practitioner identities.
The heart of this keynote is taken up with exploring interrelated facets of practitioners (reflexivity; identity; agency; knowledge; association; developing a sociological imagination, and scholarship) that invite considerations of how (and why) we, practitioners, can shape our future and how we may collectively begin to undertake transformations in/of our activities to challenge the threat of neoliberalism in higher education.
Alex Ding is Director of Scholarship and Director of the Centre for Excellence in Language Teaching in the School of Languages, Cultures and Society at the University of Leeds. He is also Associate Professor of EAP at Leeds. He co-wrote The English for Academic Purposes Practitioner: Operating on the Edge of Academia (with Ian Bruce) Palgrave Macmillan (2017) and he has published papers on EAP practitioner identity, development and education. He is also co-editor of a new book series, New Perspectives for English for Academic Purposes (Bloomsbury).
EAP in Ireland is delighted to announce its second annual conference, to be held at University College Cork on Saturday, 5 October, 2019. This year’s conference aims to investigate and discuss EAP within its broad range of academic and institutional contexts. The focus of the event is the changing nature of the interaction/relationship and drivers of collaboration between EAP and disciplinary colleagues; innovations in the teaching, learning, assessment and ethos of EAP; and the creative approaches and solutions EAP practitioners and researchers are championing and adopting in the face of a range of academic and institutional challenges.
As EAP extends beyond its traditional home in the academy, we invite proposals which investigate developments in EAP outside the university. The pathway sector, for example, can be a site of innovation as well as a focus for criticism of the impact of the neoliberal agenda on education in general, and on EAP in particular. These tensions and contradictions remain under-researched, and their critical assessment is of clear interest, particularly in view of the many under-reported innovations that take place in this sector.
EAP in Ireland Overview:
EAP in Ireland is a professional network for those specialising in English for Academic Purposes in Ireland, and for the EAP community worldwide. It offers a platform which reflects and aims to develop the vibrant EAP community, and for the sharing of best practice and research from institutions at all levels of education.
A key aim of this national learning and teaching initiative is to build the visibility and recognition of EAP, and to highlight the key contributions and requirements of EAP in a range of educational environments and contexts.
The development of a variety of approaches to EAP for all disciplines through collaborative partnerships with educational organisations is a core value of EAP in Ireland, as is training, accreditation and community-building through events such as conferences and workshops.
Campus Map
The venue for the conference is University Cork College, Western Gateway Building.
Accommodation
There is plenty of accommodation around Cork City, but as it will be the start of term time it will get booked up. We are in the process of securing discounts at a couple of the hotels. Go ahead and book, and if we secure the discount you will receive the money back). Please see the list of accommodation here:
Social Events
We will be planning social events in one of Cork’s pubs on the Friday evening and Saturday evening after the conference. We will make sure that food is available at both venues. On the Sunday, we are be organising a walking tour around Cork city followed by a pub quiz. We hope that parts of the social events will be include an Irish Trad band. On the Sunday, many of the places to visit in Cork city will be shut but here is a list if you are planning on coming for a long weekend.
Link to places to visit in Cork City
The Wild Atlantic Way
The most stunning part of Ireland is known as ‘The Wild Atlantic way’ if you are planning for a break away either pre-conference or post-conference. The further west you go the more stunning the scenery. Here is a link to the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’:
Killarney
One place that is a must visit and is only 1 hour 30 mins by bus is Killarney national park. This can be done as a day trip:
Link to Killarney national park
EAP in Ireland 2018 Annual Conference
EAP as a Learning Community: New Directions and Opportunities
October 6, 2018
Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, Ireland
Times, speakers, chairs and other details subject to change.
Find the schedule here
Find the programme here
Find released speaker slides here
