Teaching Academic English with the Production-Oriented Approach: A Case Study

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how to apply POA to EAP teaching in China and test its effectiveness through a case study. Three key issues are discussed: the design of the course structure of EAP under the guidance of POA, the implementation of POA in teaching academic English and the effectiveness of POA in increasing of students’ academic English proficiency. It is found that the ideal framework of Academic English consisted of integrated modules, instead of a linear arrangement of the units. Three key factors in the POA teaching process include: motivating tasks in an academic setting with both communicative and linguistic challenges, enabling tasks with corresponding scaffolding and evaluating strategies, and a combination of teacher’s evaluation and peer review with co-produced rubrics for assessment. The results of the study demonstrate the efficacy of the production-oriented approach in enhancing students’ academic English proficiency, specifically in the areas of speaking and writing.