Abstract
This chapter focuses on the relevance of Erasmus teaching staff mobility within the context of internationalisation. It deals with a brief course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) run at the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France in Valenciennes (France). Around 100 first-year students from the Marketing Techniques Department at the Valenciennes IUT completed a questionnaire distributed at the end of the course commenting on its usefulness. It was found that, overall, students were satisfied with the quality of this short academic course. Above all, they felt that the content of the study materials presented was relevant to the course topic and the lectures resulted in a high-level presentation. These participants also showed preference towards specific skills in academic writing, such as interpreting the research essay topic, paraphrasing, summarising and discussing results found in research papers. Suggestions for improvement included issues on the length of the course, division of smaller groups and more interaction between the tutor and the students. In addition, an issue relating to the impact of French culture on learning was observed. Hence, a set of preliminary pedagogical implications are provided so as to enhance departmental language policies, which promote internationalisation of academic staff.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barbosa, B., Santos, C., Filipe, S., Pinheiro, M. M., Simões, D., & Dias, G. P. (2017). What makes a mobility champion? Qualitative insights on teachers’ mobility experiences. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN17). http://iated.org/edulearn/
Beerkens, M., & Vossensteyn, H. (2011). The effect of the Erasmus programme on European higher education. In J. Enders, H. F. de Boer, & D. F. Westerheijden (Eds.), Reform of higher education in Europe (pp. 45–62). Sense Publishers.
Berg, V. (2014). Evaluation of the outcome of European students-teachers’ participation in the Erasmus exchange Programme (2008-2011). A survey of students’ knowledge, thoughts and feelings before and after their Erasmus exchange. Journal of the European Teacher Education Network, 9, 33–45.
Birch-Bécaas, S., & Hoskins, L. (2017). Designing and implementing ESP Courses in French Higher Education: A Case Study. In C. Sarré & S. Whyte (Eds.), New developments in ESP teaching and learning research (pp. 51–69). Research Publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2017.cssw2017.745
Bracht, O., Engel, C., Janson, K., Over, A., Schomburg, A., & Teichler, U. (2006). The professional value of Erasmus mobility. International Centre for Higher Education Research, University of Kassel.
Chu, P.-y. (2007). How students react to the power and responsibility of being decision makers in their own learning. Language Teaching Research, 11(2), 225–241.
Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Dunn, L., & Wallace, M. (2006). Australian academics and transnational teaching: An exploratory study of their preparedness and experiences. Higher Education Research & Development, 25(4), 357–369.
Enders, J., & Teichler, U. (2005). Academics’ views of teaching staff mobility: The ERASMUS experience revisited. In A. Welch (Ed.), The professoriate: Profile of a profession (pp. 97–112). Springer.
Engel, C. (2010). The impact of Erasmus mobility on the professional career: Empirical results of international studies on temporary student and teaching staff mobility. International student mobility and migration in Europe—Belgeo, 4, 351–363.
European Commission. (2015, October 10). Education & TRAINING: Erasmus facts & figures & trends. https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/education/library/statistics/erasmus-plus-facts-figures_en.pdf
European Commission. (2020, January 28). Erasmus + annual report 2018. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7985705e-41b7-11ea-9099-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
Fernández Agüero, M. (2017, 2017). Erasmus mobility and the education of Interculturally competent European teachers. Journal of Supranational Policies of Education, N° extraordinario, 142–158.
Guerin, C., & Green, I. (2013). Collaborative critique in a supervisor development program. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 5(4), 399–409.
Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10, 301–320.
Hofstede, G. (1996). Differences and danger: Cultural profiles at nations and limits to tolerance. Higher Education in Europe, 21(1), 73–94.
Horta, H. (2009). Global and national prominent universities: Internationalization, competitiveness and the role of the state. Higher Education, 58, 387–405.
Janson, K., Schomburg, H., & Teichler, U. (2009). The professional value of ERASMUS mobility. Lemmens.
Katsara, O. (2016). Internationalisation of curriculum for Italian and international postgraduate students. In K. Bista & C. Foster (Eds.), Campus support services, programs, and policies for international students (pp. 209–222). IGI Global.
Katsara, O., & De Witte, K. (2020). The need to investigate the pedagogical dimension of specific learning settings within the context of internationalisation: A literature review. In EEPEK (Ed.), Proceedings for the 5th international conference for the promotion of educational innovation (pp. 632–641). University of Thessaly.
Koenig, L. B., Gray, M., Lewis, S., & Martin, S. (2015). Student preferences for small and large class sizes. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 5(1), 20–29.
Kohler, M. (2017). Review of languages education policies internationally. The Multicultural Education and Languages Committee (MELC), Flinders University. https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/melc-review-of-languages-education-policies-internationally.pdf?acsf_files_redirect
Law, K., Muir, N., & Thompson, K. (2011). An evaluation of a European teacher exchange programme. Nurse Education Today, 31(1), 76–81.
Leedy, P., & Ormrod, J. (2001). Practical research: Planning and design (7th ed.). Merrill Prentice Hall and Sage Publications.
Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Sage.
Mažeikienė, N., & Loher, D. (2008). Teachers’ intercultural competence in mobility Programmes. Socialiniai Mokslai, 60(2), 48–65.
Popova, D., & Filipov, M. (2016). Co-teaching: An effective approach in Erasmus+ teaching Mobilities. In Proceesings of Новата идея в образованието. Том 1, Юбилейна научна конференция с международно участие [the idea of education—a Jubilee scientific conference with international participation] (pp. 390–395). Burgas Free University.
Richards, G., Symeonidou, S., & Livaniou, E. (2018). Designing a successful international course: What can we learn from students’ experiences on an Erasmus intensive Programme? In V. Tsiligiris & W. Lawton (Eds.), Exporting transnational education (pp. 177–196). Palgrave Macmillan.
Sarré, C., & Whyte, S. (2016). Research in ESP teaching and learning in French higher education: Develo** the construct of ESP didactics. ASp, 69, 139–164. https://doi.org/10.4000/asp.4834
Streitwieser, B. (2014). Internationalisation of higher education and global mobility. Symposium Books.
Tran, H. (2000). Internationalizing French higher education. International Higher Education- Special Focus: Internationalising Trends, 18, 6–7.
Vinokur, A. (2010). Current internationalisation: The case of France. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 8(2), 205–217.
Welzer, T., Družovec, M., Nemec, L., & Hölbl, M. (2013). Importance of intercultural preparation for mobility: Teachers and staff need it as well. In G. M. Papadurakis (Ed.), Proceedings of the 24th international conference on European Association for Education in electrical and information engineering (pp. 48–51). EAEEIE.
Yemini, M., & Sagie, N. (2016). Research on internationalisation in higher education- exploratory analysis. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 20(2–3), 90–98.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendices
Appendix 1: EAP Course Programme
Tuesday
Reviewing the topic/literature review guide.
-
Interpretation of the topic (direction, topic and focus)
-
Literature review (Why literature reviews are necessary, what is and what is not a literature review, six stages for writing a literature review)
Using published sources to write a literature review
-
Summarising (what makes a good summary stages of summarising)
-
Paraphrasing (the elements of effective paraphrasing and techniques of paraphrasing)
-
Combining sources (quoting sources, taking a critical approach, the writer’s credibility and tone)
Tasks are done in groups to practise topics discussed.
Wednesday
Building your argument
-
Giving examples (using analogies)
-
Mentioning and responding to opposing views
-
Appealing to authority (citing experts)
-
Pointing out consequences or implications
Organising your argument
-
Inductive approach
-
Deductive approach
Tasks are done in groups to practise topics discussed.
Dangers in develo** your argument
-
Exaggeration and unsubstantiated generalisations (swee** generalisation)
-
Oversimplification (false dilemma and false analogy)
-
Logical flaw/fallacy (irrelevancies, non-sequitur)
-
Appeal to inappropriate authorities
-
Emotionally charged words
-
Out-of-date facts
Tasks are done in groups to practise topics discussed
Thursday
Writing the paper: basic structure of a research paper—features of the sections of a research paper
-
Title
-
Abstract
-
Introduction
-
Literature review
-
Methods
-
Results
-
Discussion
-
Conclusions
-
References
Tasks are done in groups to practise topics discussed.
Appendix 2: Evaluation Questionnaire Results
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Katsara, O. (2021). Insights from an ERASMUS Teaching Programme on Academic Writing: The French Case. In: Escobar, L., Ibáñez Moreno, A. (eds) Mediating Specialized Knowledge and L2 Abilities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87476-6_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87476-6_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87475-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-87476-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)