Subject Standards and Criteria Serving as Benchmarks for English Language Teaching in Ghana

Abstract

The English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course in tertiary education environments in Ghana is compulsory and pervasive. Irrespective of first-year students’ course offerings they must of necessity take it, even if for a short period. The object of this study has been to explore and compare the subject standards and criteria that serve as benchmarks for the teaching and learning of EAP in four higher education institutions in Ghana with the aim of: (a) identifying how context-specific factors in the case study institutions affect the subject standards and criteria used in teaching and learning EAP in four higher education institutions in Ghana; (b) exploring differences in emphasis in pedagogy and curriculum as well as peculiar emphasis on process/outcome distinctions. Findings of this research were derived largely from a student survey and, to a lesser extent, from interviews with senior members and subject lecturers at the case study institutions. The study observed that even though none of the institutions involved in the study was aware of the Common European Framework of Reference for Language and consciously made use of it in designing their EAP curricula, they had their own standards similar to those in the CEFR. Their various course objectives spelt them out quite clearly. Institutional context, pedagogy, and curriculum designs of the case study institutions were found to be very similar as well. Through a cross-case analysis of their EAP curricula, the study discovered that all the participating institutions in the survey recommended an extension in the course duration for EAP, except in one case where the syllabus had been staggered to cover the four years of undergraduate studies. Desired outcomes of the processes put in place at all the case institutions are based on the level of achievement of learners in the EAP course.