The event

In order to register for the EAP day, please do the following:
· Contact Andrew Moore on · Transfer the registration fee (*€10 for members) to the following account:
Account name: Hamburg English Language Teaching Association-Helta e.V.

Early-Bird Registration: 10 EUR for HELTA members* / 25 EUR Non-members
Late Registration (after 28 January): 20 EUR for HELTA members* / 35 EUR Non-members

Bank: Postbank
IBAN: DE82 2001 0020 0010 5632 06
Verwendungszweck: EAP DAY 9 February 2019 + your name
· Only by doing the above, will you be officially registered!

*Please note if you would like to attend, but paying the €10 fee prevents you from doing so, please contact Wilton Mills () or Andrew Moore () and we will discuss options.

EAP day programme

English for Academic Purposes: A Critical Perspective
(Dr. Aymen Elsheikh)
10:00 – 11:30

One of the widely understood meanings of EAP is that it is the language and skills students need to succeed in their tertiary level study where English is used as the medium of instruction (EMI). In this talk, I challenge this view and I argue that mainstream EAP conceptualizations are ideological in nature. Taking the global spread of English as an international into consideration and the dominant force of neoliberal discourses, I critique the notion of EAP as a monolithic characterization of what ought to be learned and taught and argue for the plurality of EAPs. The talk will conclude by suggesting practical classroom strategies, such as translanguaging, to aid in the process of learning EAP and how to navigate, develop and promote multilingual competence.
About Aymen: Aymen Elsheikh, Instructional Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Qatar, received a PhD in literacy, culture, and language education from Indiana University, Bloomington. He has over 10 years of teaching experience in different countries including Sudan, Oman, USA, Qatar, and the UAE. Dr. Elsheikh’s research interests revolve around translanguaging, where multilingual speakers use their languages for communication’, teacher knowledge and identity, teaching English as an international/glocal language, language teacher associations, among others. He has published and given numerous conference presentations on these topics. He currently serves as Africa TESOL’s Vice President, and he is an incoming member of the Editorial Advisory Board of TESOL Journal (2019 – 2021) and TESOL Nominating Committee.

Humanising testing. Validity. Mediation
(Marina Marinova)
13:00 – 14:30

Testing and a humanistic approach to teaching may seem too controversial to somehow combine. This is true, to an extent, and testing gets increasingly under attack. Educational systems, minimizing or fully abolishing testing, have proven highly effective. At the same time, we and our students work in a particular context. If you are not a teacher in, say, Finland, you will probably have to test your students and they will have to pass exams successfully. Does this mean we can do nothing? Do we have to “put aside” humanistic teaching on testing day? No. A good, VALID test, will, in fact, respect some important principles of the humanistic approach.
In this talk, we will look into different kinds of test validity and how they correspond to humanistic teaching principles. We will outline a test preparation cycle enabling you to design highly valid tests and reducing test-designing time. In the end, we will look into mediation in language teaching and testing.
About Marina: Marina is a graduate of, and affiliated with the Hamburg University, Germany. She has worked as an English teacher and teacher trainer for more than 20 years, as well as for various Language Acquisition and Language Processing research projects. She is currently engaged in a neurolinguistics-based research project on Simultaneous Bilingualism and Third Language Acquisition, and has been a Pilgrims Teacher Trainer since 2011. At HELTA’s first EAP Day in 2018, Marina delivered an excellent workshop on teaching through lexis.

How to Research Your Classroom, Practices, and Identity
(Daniel Xerri)
15:00 – 16:30

This workshop provides participants with the opportunity to consider the value of practitioner research as a means of developing a better understanding of their professional practices and identity. Participants are first invited to evaluate the meaning of ‘research’ and then they are shown how to deploy a range of approaches and tools to answer any questions they might have about language learning and teaching.
About Daniel: Daniel Xerri is a Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Malta. He is a member of IATEFL’s Conference Committee and of TESOL International Association’s Research Professional Council. Between 2015 and 2017, he was the Joint Coordinator of the IATEFL Research SIG. He holds postgraduate degrees in English and Applied Linguistics, as well as a PhD in Education from the University of York. He is the author of many publications on different areas of education and TESOL. His most recent books are The Image in English Language Teaching (2017, ELT Council), and Teacher Involvement in High-stakes Language Testing (2018, Springer). Further details about his talks and publications can be found at: www.danielxerri.com