Tertiary level EAP courses in Bangladesh: A study of current practices and curricular reform for quality improvement

Abstract

The essentiality of undergraduate EAP courses is that they are necessary to improve students’ English language proficiency for academic and professional purposes. Higher education institutions in Bangladesh are continuously changing to improve their quality of education, but their overall development efforts do not specify how it contributes to the improvement of the EAP courses. Although local research has pointed out the need for EAP courses and the shortcomings that current EAP courses have. Therefore, an overall needs-based evaluation of the EAP courses is imperative to map its specificity. Also, undergraduate curricular reform through the adoption of the OBE learning model will have a substantial effect on EAP education in universities. Moreover, Bangladeshi universities have been trying to secure a commendable place in global university rankings in recent years through multifaceted activities. Yet, at the core of the success of universities and its learners lies higher language proficiency levels as English is the global language of academia, business, communication, and research. For that reason, a specific EAP accreditation, in addition to the reevaluation of the EAP courses can contribute to the overall outcome-based goals of the university. In comparison to other research works on university EAP courses, this research used a qualitative framework to sketch the overall picture of current EAP practices and future potential of EAP courses. This was done by documenting university students’ and teachers’ experiences and opinions of doing EAP courses, EAP teachers’ views about current higher education improvement projects, scopes of pursuing an international EAP accreditation parallel to the OBE curriculum and how the overall quality of higher education can be promoted