The Success of an EAP Programme in Tertiary Education: Using a Student-Centric Approach to Scaffold Materials in an EAP

Researchers and practitioners who focus on academic writing in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses have reported on the need to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with academic writing across different disciplines in tertiary education (Rinnert & Kobayashi, 2005; Shi, 2011; Thompson, 2013). Previous research (e.g., Crosthwaite, 2016) has predominantly measured students’ progress in an EAP by comparing students’ preand post-course scores of individual language/writing skills. Much less has been reported on the effectiveness of a detailed EAP curriculum design that scaffolds skills in stages. This study contributes to the current EAP research by examining holistically the impact of a 12-week EAP course that adopts a reading-to-write, student-centric approach to scaffold progressively difficult writing skills/knowledge to help students acquire academic writing skills by focusing on three core skills: language, text organisation, and content development. The data of this study show students’ perceptions of their writing abilities and the significant improvement in academic writing skills before and after completing the course.

on the contrasts between pre-and post-EAP course scores after a single semester, from a small sample sizes. For example, researchers reported on students' improvement on the accuracy/appropriate use of grammar and lexical choices and register (Chanock, 1997;Crosthwaite, 2016;Hinkel, 2002;Polio et al., 1998, in Croswaite, 2016, verb tense/aspect (Crosthwaite, 2016), complex sentences (Crosthwaite, 2016), and students' ability to synthesis information (Crosthwaite, 2016), and draft revisions (Quinn, 2015;Tono, Satake, & Miura, 2014). Storch and tapper (2009) is one of the few studies that has reported students' improvement in an EAP holistically by analysing students' writing in terms of cohesion and coherence, linguistic accuracy and fluency, and the use of academic vocabulary of students' text. Storch and tapper (2009) attributed students' improvement in these skills to the ample modelling of texts and instructions given in the EAP course.

Scaffolding in the Writing Process in an EAP Curriculum
An effective EAP course that adopts a reading-to-write approach is one that scaffolds materials and tasks as a process rather than focusing on the final product of an assessed writing task (Carson & Leki, 1993;Escribano, 1999;Oster, 1987;Seviour, 2015;White & Arndt, 1991). Studies that focus on the writing process suggest that students should be given both formative and summative assessments because students may not be able to demonstrate accurately the taught academic writing skills in their first draft, so process writing is crucial in allowing students to recognise their strengths, and improve on their weaknesses through teacher feedback (Oster, 1987;Seviour, 2015;White & Arndt, 1991). For instance, a student writer may have difficulty organising ideas and accurately expressing ideas in the first draft but will be able to learn and fix their errors through instructors' feedback. Such a process requires more effort from teachers and students as writers and critical readers to think and rethink, and write and rewrite to make a particular text readable, but students are able to learn in the process (Oster, 1987). Hence, marks should be allocated to both formative and summative assessments (Seviour, 2015).
A more recent study conducted by Seviour (2015) revealed students' improvement in writing with better language accuracy and developing cohesion in their writing in a 5-week pre-sessional EAP which focused on process writing. After the instructor gave feedback on students first essay plan, students were asked to rewrite their plan for submission and a small percentage of marks were assigned.
Students were then asked to write their first draft, submit it for plagiarism check in Turnitin, and conduct a peer review. The instructor then provided feedback and students rewrote the draft before the final draft was submitted. Again, a small percentage was allocated to students' initial draft before the final summative assessment. Students were given multiple opportunities to practise their skills and knowledge in a multiple drafting process before the final draft was submitted.
Indeed, research also shows including students in the writing process can actively engage them in the learning throughout an EAP course (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004;Seviour, 2015). However, the teachers must closely guide and support students in the learning and assessment activities, and ensure the right amount of work is distributed throughout the course, monitor the quality of students' work and the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/selt Studies in English Language Teaching Vol. 7, No. 2, 2019 effort required on an assessment (rather than focusing only the end product at the end of the course can promote deep learning). This also requires the instructors to provide sufficient good quality feedback in a timely manner and monitor students' response to that feedback throughout the course (Cook, 2016;Seviour, 2015). Essentially, this means the tasks and materials created for the course must be relevant to students' learning, and targeted to their weaknesses so that they could further improve.
To date, substantial research has examined separately the skills gained in an EAP, with less focus on how/what materials, strategies and instructions can be used during the EAP course to promote students' acquisition of academic writing skills. Hence, further empirical evidence is needed to substantiate the effectiveness of a holistic EAP curriculum that scaffolds materials with increasing difficulty. In addition, more research is needed to provide holistic picture of students' overall improvement in an EAP course.

Rationale for This Project
Students who took this EAP at NUS studied English for the past 15-17 years in Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Vietnam. Yet, they were still fairly weak in grammar and/or English writing skills. These participants were identified as having weak academic writing skills in one or more areas: developing content (developing ideas with explanation and evidence, and referring/integrating supporting ideas from texts), organising text (coherently organising ideas within and across paragraphs), and using language (writing has numerous errors on sentence level, and across sentences) in academic writing in the Qualifying English Test (QET). Students tended to lack motivation to take this module, especially as they were busy with their content subject and we took time out of their curriculum to attend this compulsory EAP course. This means it is important to make the course meaningful we need to use authentic materials (cf. Frydrychova Klimova, 2012a, pp. 45-46), and create tasks that can make students see we add value to their learning, and that the skills they learn are relevant to their content subject.
This research project investigates the effectiveness of a 12-week EAP course that scaffolds materials in progression of difficulty level with consideration of teachers' instructions/input in teaching language, content development, and text cohesion. All materials are taught in a student-centric approach by scaffolding materials so that input is noticed (Schmidt, 1990) and comprehensible (Krashen, 1990), and providing students opportunities to practice. This is critical for an EAP curriculum as the weaker students who may feel less confident and anxious would be reluctant to partake in in-class activities (Fallah, 2014). More importantly, deep learning is more likely to occur when a subject has a special relevance to the students, or instils a sense of wonder so that curiosity is aroused. Thus, it is essential to arouse students' interest and motivate them to learn English by providing not only the fundamental rules of English, but also practical usages in written and oral communication.
Consistent with the literature, a small percentage is allocated to formative assessments and the heavier weightage is assigned to the summative assessments to promote active learning in the course to raise students' intrinsic motivation to do well in the course, especially for the weaker students (extrinsic motivation) (Higgins, Hartley, & Skelton, 2002;Seviour, 2015).
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Participants
Participants in this study were taught by the two researchers in a 12-week non-credit bearing EAP course at the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The 90 students who participated in this study are from the Faculties of Science, Social Sciences, Engineering, and Business, as well as the School of Environment & Design. They attended tutorials in groups of 18-22, and attended two 2-hour tutorials per week.
The students in this study consented to sharing their work in class anonymously and for research purposes. They were informed their assignments scores would not be used for this study and their participation in this study would not affect their performance.

EAP Curriculum Design
As can be seen in Table 1, this EAP syllabus adopts a reading-to-write approach that scaffolds materials in progression of difficulty in four stages over 12 weeks. Themed readings (e.g., globalisation) were used as springboard texts to help students with writing and provides opportunities for analysing and organising academic texts.
As can be seen in Table 1, the course began by teaching students fundamental academic language and reading strategies (Stage 1), which students were expected to use in their first piece of writing "writing summary and response essay" (Stage 2), and subsequently on the problem-solution academic essay (Stage 3). Strong emphasises were placed to the need for students to take active participation in and out of class, and take charge of their own learning by exploring what is taught through writing. Along with teachers' instructions and constant guidance inside/outside the class via feedback and consultations, students progressed through their writing via grammar/language tasks, class/online group discussions, peer reviews of writing assignments, ample feedback from me and multiple drafting of work. To arouse students' interest to learn and improve on their language accuracy/fluency, the teaching and learning of grammar should be student-centred (Missildine, 2013). As can be seen in Students primarily improve on language accuracy/fluency from the three set main writing tasks: diagnostic writing, reader response, and problem-solution essay. After each task, each student was given in-depth feedback on the language errors. Beyond instructors' feedback on each student written tasks, common language errors from students' work were used as grammar discussion points and class activities. This brings more relevance to their learning and they would be more interested to learn (Frymier & Shulman, 2009;Olivos et al., 2016).
For instance, students in the EAP course were often confused about the correct usage of past, present, and future perfect tenses versus simple present and past tenses. In this section, students were given Once the class discussed the use of tenses, students were challenged to work as a group after class to correct sentences, and refer to online resources for explanations. The students had to work in groups to explain the errors and reasons for the corrections ( Figure 3). Learning was further reinforced using authentic articles, with information that they find relevance to (e.g., information about the Late Singapore Prime Minster Lee Kwan Yew). Figure 4 was used to explain how the present perfect and future tenses are used. Once a language item was discussed in class, students were required to try to apply it in writing. Instructors then provide feedback accordingly.

Figure 4. Example of an Authentic Article Used to Teach Present Perfect and Future Tenses
Note. Retrieved from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sporeans-will-determine-countrys-futurecoming-ge-says-pm-lee Language skills were taught using such authentic exercises are taught in the Weeks 1-3 (Stage 1), and they were reinforced in other writing tasks all through the semester in an attempt to increase students' language accuracy and fluency. Students were taught basic definitions with examples that illustrated how different language elements were used, and then students were actively engaged as they were required to discuss how to correct errors using authentic examples that they found relevant, and progressed in difficulty as the application of language rules required more thinking.

Stage 2: Scaffolding reader response (summarising, paraphrasing, citation and evaluation skills)
In Stage 2, Table 1 (Weeks 3-4), students were taught summarising, paraphrasing, and citation skills ( Figure 5), and then challenged to writing a response essay where they learned to evaluate the validity of arguments and questioned the why, what, when, where, and how the original writer made, explained and supported a claim. Again, basic definitions and examples were given to students first, and the students were required to apply summarising and paraphrasing, as well as evaluation skills ( Figure 5).

Figure 6. Example of an Authentic Article Used to Scaffold Summarising Skills
Subsequently, students were taught how to extend a summary of text into a reader response by firstly learning how to evaluate ideas and provide evidence to support ideas (See Figure 7) and how to organise a reader response (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Organisation of Content for Reader Response
To reinforce learning, students scaffolded a longer passage where they had to identify the content and organisation of the text in groups and class discussion. The sample was then shared with students ( Figure 9).

Figure 9. Example of a Reader Response
Summarising, paraphrasing, citation, and evaluation skills were taught using authentic texts. Once students completed these tasks, students were expected to complete an assignment. In the assignment, students were asked to submit draft 1 for peer and tutor feedback, and face-to-face consultations. Key summarising, paraphrasing, citation and evaluation skills were reinforced in the feedback process.
Students were actively engaged throughout the whole learning process as they were required to discuss and apply the skills they learned to correct errors. As can be seen from Stage 3 in Table 1, the core academic language and essential writing skills, such as content development and organisation of content learned from reader response, were required in the writing of an academic problem-solution essay. In this task, students were taught to analyse an essay prompt, integrate information from various sources into an essay, organise ideas according in essay structure, and complete an essay.
In class, instructors explained to students the logic and need to write a problem-solution essay in an academic setting, introduced students to the structure, and examined the content of a problem-solution essay using an example where they explored how to explain and illustrate the impact of a problem, came up with existing and own solutions, and thought about the sequence information as: identify the problem and its impactevaluation of the problemprovide existing solutions proposed own solution.

Table 2. Possible Structures of a Problem-solution Essay
In groups, students were asked to work through an example of a problem-solution essay to identify these elements of a problem-solution essay, examined the explanation, evidence used in each part, and noted the organisation of information presented. Students were asked to colour code the different elements of the problem-solution essay. This was followed by students presenting their work in class.
The sample (Figure 10) was shared with students.

Activity
To reinforce learning, students were asked to identify the key sections of a short problem solution essay, and examine the purpose of the given information in each section. The sample (Figure 9) was then shared with students after class discussion.  After the core skills were taught, students were required to select a topic of the problem solution essay.
The topic must be related to the theme for the semester (in this case environmental impact of globalisation). Similar to the reader response, students were tasked to submit draft 1, where students received peer and tutor feedback, and tutors met students for face-to-face consultations. Students were actively engaged throughout the whole learning process as they were required to discuss apply the skills they learned to correct errors.

Data Analyses and Results of Students' Perception of Their Writing Abilities
a. Data analyses of students' perception of their writing abilities To analyse students' self-perceptions of their language, content, and organsation skills, they completed pre-and post-course surveys. The weighted averages of pre-and post-perceptions were calculated and compared on the this scale: 1=strong disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, and 4=strong agree.
b. Results of students' perception of their writing abilities

i. Language
The results in Table 3 show that students' weighted average of their perceptions on language abilities increased from pre-to post-course (2.7 and 3.0 respectively). In general, more students agreed that they were able to use a range of language devices such as verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, prepositions, word choice, and expressing ideas more clearly after the 12-week EAP course. The biggest increases were on the use of prepositions and ability to clearly express ideas, but quite a number of students indicated they were weak in word choice. This is not surprising as improving students' vocabulary was not the focus in this course.

ii. Organisation of text
The results in Table 4 show that students' weighted average of their perceptions on their ability to organise texts in academic writing increased from pre-to post-course (2.7 and 3.1 respectively). After the 12-week EAP course, more students agreed that they were able to write more coherently in essays/assignments, organise information in a paragraph, and connect ideas in paragraphs, as well as writing a thesis statement and topic sentence. Interestingly, the weighted averages of students "knowing" what thesis statements and a topic sentences are higher than their perception that they 'can' to write thesis statements and topic sentences in both pre-and post-course.

iii. Content development
The results in Table 5 show that students' weighted average of their perceived ability to develop ideas in an academic text increased from pre-to post-course (2.5 and 3.1 respectively). Of the three criteria, content development has the highest increased weighted percentage. After the course, more students agreed that they were able to develop an academic text, use supporting details to develop a thesis statement and paragraph, paraphrase and summarise and integrate and cite ideas from other different sources into their own texts. More importantly, in the post course, there was a higher percentage of students who agreed they were able to apply what they learned to higher order skills to evaluate and respond other people's writing and continue to develop own academic writing skills and edit own work.

Data Analyses and Results of Students' Writing Abilities a. Data analyses of students' writing abilities
The data in this study were collected from students' perception survey of their abilities, and textual data from the QET and final exam papers. To investigagte whether students improved on a range of academic writing skills in developing content, organising information and improving on language accuracy and fluency, quantitative data were collected using SPSS ensured that the data was efficiently processed to provide results and conclusions that can be considered valid and reliable. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to ascertain whether or not significant differences appeared between students' pre-(QET paper) and post-course (final exam) writing. In this research project, students' work was rated accordingly: 5=strong, 4=good, 3=fair, 2=poor, 1=very poor and 0=does not exist. Textual analyses were also conducted to assess students' writing performance based on three criteria: content development, organisation of text and language usage.
Three markers who had taught this course for at least 2 years were trained to mark the QET papers and the final exam according to the descriptors given. Each instructor was trained on marking using 5 test scripts seclected and discrepancies amongst the marking were addressed. The researcher then randomly checked the marking of the QET papers and the final exam.
These writing skills were taught and evaluted in the students' preand post-course writing tasks: i. language usage: students were rated on their ability to develop ideas with a very high level of language accuracy and fluency (i.e., very few errors and fully comprehensible), using accurate/appropriate syntax, grammar vocabulary, word usage & idiomatic expressions, as well as fluency & cohesion.
ii. organisation of text: students were rated on their ability to coherently and cohesively development of ideas throughout the essay from the introduction, to the body paragraphs and conclusion.
iii. Content development: students were rated on their ability to demonstrate a clear understanding of the prompt and fully develops ideas with relevant evidence throughout the essay by producing an accurate response to the prompt, main and supporting ideas, and their ability to integrate sources into the essay: paraphrases, summarises, evaluates and synthesizes ideas from sources.

b. Results on students' writing abilities
Overall, results show that students' academic writing skills in developing content, cohesion and coherence in text organisation, and language accuracy and fluency improved significantly in these three areas from the QET to the final exam. The greatest improvement (mean differences) that students made was in the way they organised text cohesively and coherently in their writing (x=3.473, t=10.056, df=183, p=0.004), followed by content development (x=2.804, t=8.241, df=183, p=0.000) and language (x=3.239, t=2.682, df=183, p=0.000).
It is perhaps not surprising to find students were able to more significant improvement in text organisation and development than in language. A majority of students who took this proficiency course have, by and large, a fairly good command of English as they use English daily (though may not be aware of the formality of academic English required for writing). These students have been learning English language usage and accuracy since primary school. In contrast, students were never taught the rigour of academic text organisation and the importance of content development in academic writing until they reached university. Thus, they showed the greatest improvement in learning text cohesion and coherence and developing content with credibility.

i. Language usage
In terms of language usage, students were required assessed on developing ideas with a very high level of language accuracy and fluency (i.e., very few errors and fully comprehensible). Students also showed significant improvement in language accuracy and fluency in the following areas: -syntax which includes the use of various sentence types to achieve intended purpose or meaning; and shows a full range of simple, compound and complex structures (x=.418, t=6.874, df=183, p=0.000).

ii. Organisation of text
Students were assessed on text cohesion and coherence in presenting ideas throughout the essay. The results showed students made the most significant improvement in in text organisation in the following key areas: -Writing an explicit thesis statement and topic sentences that clearly respond to the task. Students improved significantly in the way they wrote thesis statement with specific controlling ideas and scope (x=.772, t=6.220, df=183, p=0.000), and a topic sentence in each body paragraph relevant to the thesis and captured the body paragraph (x=.538, t=6.103, df=183, p=0.000).
-Developing paragraphs that are cohesive and coherent throughout the essay, with a clear a relational pattern (e.g., problem-solution sequence and cause-effect pattern

Discussion
Consistent with previous research (AsenciÓn Delaney, 2008;Durá n Escribano, 1999;Klimova, 2015;Seviour, 2015), this study further supports the benefits of adopting a reading-to-write approach to develop students' academic writing skills in an EAP module, which starts by teaching students to read, extract and incorporate information into a range of different writing tasks that progress in difficulty-from summarising/paraphrasing/synthesising, to responding to a summarised text and then a full academic essay (such as the problem solution essay). The results of this study revealed that students perceived they had improved on three essential aspects of academic writing: language accuracy/fluency, ability to develop content, and organised text. Furthermore, students improved in all core academic writing skills: language, content development and text organisation. The greatest significance was found in the way students developed content in their writing by explaining the main points and supporting main points with evidence, and organised text to provide macro-and microlevels coherence and cohesion.
Students' improvement could be attributed to writing tasks and scaffolding materials in a reading-to-write approach that progresses in difficulty. For an EAP course to be successful, instructors must provide clear and explicit instructions on tasks and use ample examples to raise students' awareness of the input (that is, models of good and bad essays). As seen from the results, students themselves recognised that they knew of certain important features of writing, such as writing thesis statements and topic sentences, but they were not able to do it well. Therefore, students must be given opportunities to explore their learning, practise and improve of the core academic writing skills through effective peer and instructor feedback to reinforce learning.
Ultimately, for students to want to learn and strive to improve their academic writing abilities in an EAP, they must see value in what they learn and the reason for putting in so much time and effort.
Students in this course were willingly takes out time from students' heavy workload in their core modules, to want to learn and put in effort-even to the extent of reviewing their peers' work. This is only achievable because students could see the EAP could value-add to their knowledge/skills, and they saw their own improvement throughout the 12-week learning journey. In these 12 weeks, students were allowed to explore their learning along the way and were actively engaged to make improvements through class discussions, set activities, multiple drafting in the formative assessments with peer and instructor feedback. Students were engaged in the whole learning process, and this process is essential in developing students' confidence in academic writing.
Teachers' instructions and effort in teaching does not necessarily equate to students' learning (Cook, 2016). This study also suggests that simply raising students' awareness by 'telling' is insufficient to help students learn. EAP researchers and practitioners must design an EAP curriculum undergird by the basic fundamental principles of second language acquisition theories. Firstly, learning must be initiated with the instructors raising students' awareness so that they can "notice" the taught skill (Schmidt, 1990), so that input is comprehensible (Krashen, 1985(Krashen, , 1989. Comprehensibility of input is increased if the exposure is meaningful, interesting, understandable, and relevant is sufficient to draw readers' attention (Krashen, 1989), and the input can be reinforced in the writing and peer and instructor feedback process. The collaborative construction of opportunities should be given to learners to develop their mental abilities (Lantoff, 2000, cited in Walsh, 2006. This elaborate process of teaching and learning is more likely to lead to higher order thinking and writing skills, where students are able to apply evaluative skills (Cook, 2016;Durá n Escribano, 1999;Krashen, 1989;Tsang, 1996).

Conclusion
Consistent with previous research, this study indicates students' academic writing skills improved in an EAP course that progressed in difficulty in a writing process. Beyond this, this study posits that an effective EAP must incorporate clear instructions, and authentic materials and tasks that students find relevant. Students are more likely to be engaged in learning when they could see their academic writing abilities improve as they progress through the tasks in the EAP course. This means students must have opportunities to apply the skills they learn and improve on their work, recognise their own strengths and weaknesses from hands-on tasks, and understand what they need to do to improve from tutor feedback. Future EAP curriculum designers must consider an effective pedagogy that can engage students in the materials and tasks in the writing process so that they are inspired to learn.