Embedded Files
Crackers and Chat
Crackers and Chat
Thursday 11th December 2025 12noon to 1pm (GMT UK)
Click here to join this Zoom event. The meeting ID is: 875 5281 0961
Crackers and Chatter Agility and Adaptability in In-sessional
Crackers and Chatter Agility and Adaptability in In-sessional
As we look forward to the coming Winter Break period, the In-sessional SIG is festively happy to invite you to another Crackers and Chat event.
This informal knowledge- and experience-sharing event offers a chance to catch up with colleagues and discuss In-sessional pedagogies, practices, approaches and philosophies in a discussion guided by the theme of Agility and Adaptability. Festive knitwear is optional; a burning desire to advance the discipline of In-sessional EAP through informal discussion is mandatory; insights, intelligence and interaction are guaranteed.
Friday 7th November 2025, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)
The Role of In-sessional EAP in inclusive assessment practices
The Role of In-sessional EAP in inclusive assessment practices
Abstract
Abstract
Abstract: We will outline how, as in-sessional EAP practitioners at the Centre for Academic Language and Development (University of Bristol), we have used Evan’s Equity Agency Transparency framework (2022) to promote student assessment and feedback literacy in academic reading and writing workshops. We will explore underpinning concepts and practical applications from these workshops to demonstrate the role of In-sessional EAP in making Higher Education assessment practices more inclusive. We will show how we conduct our sample analysis by combining the "etic” perspective typical of SFL and the “emic” angle that characterises the Academic Literacies approach (Coffin and Donohue, 2012) with the aim of demystifying assessment expectations. We will also discuss how we encourage students’ agentic engagement with feedback practices (Winstone et al., 2017) and help them navigate the ever-increasing modular system of HE assessment design (Jessop & Tomas, 2017).
Mrs Catriona Johnson
M.St., Ba Hons
Miss Debora Catavello
MSc, DELTA, MA, TEAP Fellow
Bios: Catriona Johnson and Debora Catavello
Bios: Catriona Johnson and Debora Catavello
Catriona Johnson and Debora Catavello are Insessional Subject Leads at the University of Bristol. They both deliver embedded academic language and literacy workshops to postgraduate students from a range of disciplines and backgrounds. Their main research interests are inclusive pedagogy and the design of teaching materials drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory. Catriona is an HEA Fellow and Debora a BALEAP Fellow.
Thursday 5th June 2025, 9:30am-11:00am UK time
Speaker: Bee Bond
Developing a hybrid ESAP insessional syllabus
Developing a hybrid ESAP insessional syllabus
Abstract
Abstract
In this presentation I will share the process and product of a hybrid programme I was asked to develop for the School of History. It is hybrid both in terms of being online and on campus but was also intended to be both pre- and insessional. My presentation will consider how I worked to meet very subject specific needs without having time or access to conduct a full needs analysis. I will also share the syllabus and materials I created as well as my current evaluation of the value of the programme.
Bio: Bee Bond is Professor of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the University of Leeds. From 2019 - 2024 she led the Leeds Language Centre's insessional team, establishing a much more embedded ESAP approach to their work. She now teaches insessional in different formats across three Schools: Sociology and Social Policy; Geography and History. She is also currently a member of BALEAP’s Executive Committee as TEAP Officer and co-leads the new part-time, online MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes at Leeds.
Pedagogy Choice on
Pedagogy Choice on
in-sessional EAP
in-sessional EAP
Friday 16th May 2025 13:00 - 14:00 UK time.
Neil Tibbetts
Neil Tibbetts
This interactive online workshop will focus on the question of pedagogy and the choices we make teaching in this context and consider how this differs from working in other areas of EAP. It builds on ideas presented in Tibbetts and Chapman (2023) Chapter 2 which re-considered pedagogical underpinnings for in-sessional practice in a wide sense. This workshop will take that as a starting point for this interactive workshop, stressing the importance of critical reflection on the part of the practitioner as well as analysis of specific teaching context to inform pedagogical choices when developing provision across a variety of disciplines, cohorts and formats.
Neil Adam Tibbetts is senior lecturer in scholarship of teaching and learning in education at King's College London and was formerly an in-sessional co-ordinator at Bristol (2019-24) and a senior teaching fellow at Southampton (2013-19). Together with Timothy Chapman of Goldsmiths UoL he co-authored 'A guide to In-sessional English for Academic Purposes: Paradigms and practices' published by Taylor and Francis/Routledge in 2023.
In-sessional Chit-Chat: Building relationships (Friday 28th March 2025)
In-sessional Chit-Chat: Building relationships (Friday 28th March 2025)
We all know how important it is to build strong working relationships with colleagues in different disciplines to make in-sessional courses work. How can we do this? Join us to address this question and pool our ideas and experiences.
At this event, we discussed the questions below. See the mind-map for points that arose in our break-out rooms.
• How do you build strong working relationships with colleagues in different disciplines to make In-sessional courses work in your context?
• How do you find ‘ways in’?
• What tips do you have?
Wednesday 12th February 2025
Wednesday 12th February 2025
Evaluating the Impact of Embedded In-Sessional Provision:
Evaluating the Impact of Embedded In-Sessional Provision:
Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches &
Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches &
Our AGM
There has been an increased demand for studies evaluating the impact of language education, due to both accountability to stakeholders and to improve effectiveness of programmes (Hatry and Newcomer, 2010, cited in Fouche et al 2016, p.110). However, there is no clear definition of impact, and no single approach to the evaluation of this impact. This talk will focus on two embedded in-sessional impact projects at the University of Leeds across two schools; Leeds University Business School (LUBS) and the School of Food Science and Nutrition (FSN). The first takes an innovative quantitative approach to impact, focusing on postgraduate student writing and academic language in MSc International Business, comparing those who did and did not attend the optional in-sessional provision. The second takes a qualitative approach, focusing on student perceptions of the impact of the provision, on both the students’ academic language and literacies and their wider educational experience. The aim of this talk is to focus on two differing approaches to evaluating impact, looking at the strengths and limitations of both approaches, and to discuss the findings of these projects on embedded in-sessional provision.
Clark Girdlestone is a lecturer in EAP at the University of Leeds who leads the MSc International Business EAP insessional alongside Language Centre module and programme leadership responsibilities. He has previously presented at the BALEAP (2021) online conference, BALEAP PiMs and various Language Centre summer conferences at the University of Leeds. Most recently, he presented the findings of a collaborative impact study on EAP in-sessional provision within the University of Leeds Business School at the University of Leeds Student Education Conference 2024. Jenna Bodin-Galvez is a Lecturer in EAP at the University of Leeds. Since 2018, she has been seconded to the School of Food Science and Nutrition, leading the in-sessional provision. She is also the co-module leader for a content-based summer pre-sessional; Language for Business Management and Enterprise. Her scholarship interests lie in the impact of embedded in-sessional provision, and in the EAP needs of students from an EMI background.
Jenna Bodin-Galvez is a Lecturer in EAP at the University of Leeds. Since 2018, she has been seconded to the School of Food Science and Nutrition, leading the in-sessional provision. She is also the co-module leader for a content-based summer pre-sessional; Language for Business Management and Enterprise. Her scholarship interests lie in the impact of embedded in-sessional provision, and in the EAP needs of students from an EMI background.
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