THE ROLE OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES IN MAINTAINING FUTURE TEACHERS’ INTEREST IN RESEARCH

Oct 15, 2026

The study investigates a 2-year action research program examining how an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum influences future teachers’ engagement in research. Data from University Master’s students were gathered via two questionnaires before and after the course, and analyzed through an explanatory framework covering student profiles, career and research orientation. Results show that shifts in attitudes reflect multiple interacting factors affecting post-graduation motivation. Recommendations emphasize restructuring the EAP course with more contact hours and stronger links to school practice and small-scale classroom research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature review

The theoretical background of the research

DOI: 10.20535/2410-8286 .256236 THE ROLE OF ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES IN MAINTAINING FUTURE TEACHERS’ INTEREST IN RESEARCH Oksana Zabolotna, Natalia Gut, Iryna Shcherban Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Uman, Ukraine [o.zabolotna@udpu.edu.ua](o.zabolotna@udpu.edu.ua) The university curriculum plays a role in motivating students to take up research. This 2-year action research explored the curriculum in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and its influence on student further engagement in research work. The data were collected from University Master's students through two questionnaires given to them before and after studying the course. An explanatory framework for the course characteristics that affected students’ attitudes towards research focused upon the students’ profile (the students’ age, gender, major and language proficiency), career orientation and research orientation. The shift in students’ attitudes reinforced the complexity of factors that influenced their motivation to take up research after graduation. The authors draw a conclusion that future interventions to address issues with the Academic English course to raise the interest of University students should deal with restructuring the course in a way that the student should have more contact hours. The analysis of learning materials designed for the EAP course shows that most of them introduce students to theory- and research-informed perspectives and guide them in putting theory to use in real-world contexts which would be impossible in 30 contact hours as in the analysed case. Moreover, it should be linked to the students’ school practice and their small-scale research in real classroom settings. Keywords: future teachers’ attitudes towards research; English for Academic Purposes; maintaining interest in research Introduction Pre-service teacher education is viewed as essential in the students’ motivation to take up research, and studies regarding impacts on student attitudes toward classroom research are timely and relevant. The authors explored the curriculum in English for Academic Purposes for Master's students majoring in teaching and its influence on their further engagement in research work. Literature review. Over the past few decades, a lot of researchers have studied the impact of English asa foreign language on students’ attitudes towards different academic and non-academic aspects. There has been some evidence that second language learner expectations are underpinned through the beliefs that are shaped in terms of their cultural backgrounds and past experiences (Borg, 2018) . Other researchers have shown the impact of academic writing on the students in terms of their wish to publish their research findings as “universities are competing globally with each other to produce more and more research publications”(Abdulsada & Awad, 2020) . As English has become the predominant language of communication in the academic field, the role of English for Academic Purposes as a university course is growing. According to Hyland and Hamp-Lyons (2002), English for Academic Purposes is defined as "the linguistic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic description of English as it occurs in the contexts of academic study and the scholarly exchange itself" (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002) . The authors see the purpose of the course as bridging “the gap between secondary and tertiary expectations of academic discourse to promote the students’ academic literacy up to graduation”(Hyland, 2006) . Past research has shown that students who use English in their academic work tend to have difficulties in properly referring to sources (Mounce, 2010; Lamptey & AttaObeng, 2012; Masic, 2013) . There are plentiful publications that are extensively focusing largely on academic integrity (McLean, 2018; Harrison, et al., 2017; Richards, et al., 2016) . Although there is a lot of research about students’ perception of English for Academic Purposes

FAQs

What was the purpose of this 2-year action research?

To explore the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum and its influence on student further engagement in research work.

How were the research data collected and analyzed?

Two questionnaires were administered to University Master’s students before and after studying the EAP course, using a framework focused on student profiles, career orientation, and research orientation.

What does the study suggest for future interventions to improve the Academic English course?

Restructure the course to provide more contact hours and connect it to school practice and students’ small-scale research in real classroom settings.

Oct 15, 2026

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