Speaker
Description
I. Introduction: the new descriptors of communication competence in CEFR CV 2018-2020
• reinforcing the concept of language learner as a social agent (Piccardo, 2012)
• static view of language competence (based on four skills of speaking, writing, listening and reading) replaced with the dynamic set of reception, production, interaction, mediation and sign language
• What does this mean for ESP?
II. ESP facilitating the growth of the learner as social agent:
• reviving and refining the paradigm of communicative language teaching (CLT) – authenticity & social nature of learning (North, 2021)
o mediation as cognitive and relational competence (Coste & Cavalli, 2015)
o in mediation across the languages (inter-linguistic mediation occurs at various stages of the learning process)
o intra-linguistic mediation: disciplinary practices simulated in the learning process:
• traditional and classical disciplines with a pronounced demand of intra-linguistic mediation skills: the example of two fields
o legal English and the plain English movement (UK & US & Ca & EU? practices - US legislation “The Plain Writing Act of 2010”)
o medical communication (patient-centred communication – Calgary-Cambridge guide 1996)
III. Affordances and challenges of research: ESP methodology and practice
• assessment: the weakest link in supporting the development of mediation skills? (Stathopoulou 2020)
• learner empowerment:
o role of peer-feedback & self-assessment
o self-assessment grid in CEFR – grid for mediation across the four domains of language use -> to be developed
o ESP, in field-specific discourse development rely on and support communication across the domains (public, private, occupational and educational discourse)
• teacher empowerment:
o pragmatics: discourse analysis informing language teaching methodology, conversation analysis, etc.
o action research: to support material design and scaffolding, and to monitor outcomes of learning practices, (curriculum and course design, material selection and production of language activities) – example: Liontou & Braidwood 2021
o a TIP: see Table 13 CEFR CV p.180
IV. Conclusion: developing language learners’ inter- and intra-linguistic mediation
• will lead to reinforced cognitive and relational skills
o additional outcomes of enhancing the role of mediation in language learning –> critical thinking, creativity and collaboration (in addition to communication) – labelled as 21st century skills
• societal impact (beyond pluri-linguistic and pluri-cultural objectives): civic duties, patient empowerment
Biographical note(s) of the author(s)
Eva Braidwood, PhD, has been working as an ESP/EAP teacher at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her areas of responsibility include curriculum and course design for the degree programmes of architecture and medicine. Her research and publications include using CLIL pedagogy in higher education, discipline-specific discourse features of professional and academic writing, PBL and digital pedagogies in ESP/EAP, mediation in ESP courses. She is an associate partner to the M.E.T.L.A. ECML project, and has been participating in two Erasmus + supported projects; FOR21 project (Fostering the doctor of the 21st century) and EntreSTEAM (Entrepreneurial skills for STEAM students).
