GRADUATE AND EAP TEACHER PERSPECTIVES OF GENRE INSTRUCTION IN EMI PROGRAMMES OF FINLAND AND THE UAE

Abstract

<p> The current study contributes to recent scholarly debates that question the suitability of EAP as academic writing support in EMI contexts. Two authentic cases of EAP in EMI were explored to gain an insight into the strengths and challenges perceived by stakeholders. Using a theoretical framework for genre knowledge as a guiding principle we interviewed graduates and EAP teachers from two universities -one in Finland and one in the UAE - to enrich our understanding of academic writing practices in these two distinct contexts. Thematic and theoretical analysis identified infrastructure as a key area of concern since it led to several pedagogical implications. These two authentic examples of EMI contexts indicate a need for EAP teachers to draw from current genre knowledge scholarship to provide pedagogical practices and activities that raise graduates’ awareness of the features of genre knowledge, and so provide solid academic writing practices for our graduate students. <br></p>