Reading-Writing Connections in an EAP Course for ALL First-Year Undergraduates at HKU

Abstract

It has been well-researched that the quality of students’ academic writing is very much contingent upon their reading comprehension skills and abilities. According to Shaw and Pecorari (2013), becoming adept at reading for writing (RFW) is crucial as it is “an index of successful academic achievement for students” (p. A1). That said, RFW is rarely perceived as an integral part of an EAP course (see Macalister, 2007), and some EAP practitioners might even experience difficulties in teaching RFW classes. Oftentimes, they just require students to attain “a minimal level of command of RFW” (Hirvela, 2016, p. 127). In this presentation, the coordination team of CAES1000 Core University English (a first-year undergraduate EAP course with 2,400 students in each academic year) of the University of Hong Kong will illustrate the significance of incorporating a reading-for-writing component into the course, demonstrate the conceptual framework on which the RFW teaching materials are based, and share the challenges the coordination team faced when implementing and evaluating RFW in the new course curriculum. The pedagogical implication of this presentation is to provide course developers of the English language in both secondary schools and universities with useful data for curriculum planning of academic reading and writing.