Bronwen

Page 40 University of Sydney Papers in TESOL
test and develop the English proficiency needed
for academic purposes;
• Structured the curriculum around weekly themes of academic
interest, e.g. Business issues;
• Provided weekly tasks, including the writing of argument
and discussion essays;
• Assessed students by an in-house proficiency test comprising
the four sections of the IELTS academic test; the result was
an IELTS-equivalent score upon which a student’s university
entry was determined.
The GB course:
• Required IELTS band 6;
• Aimed to prepare students for university entry and develop
faculty-like English use;
• Structured the curriculum around ‘Reading to Learn’ and two
core strands: Accounting and Commerce/Arts/Engineering;
• Provided fortnightly task cycles, with half of the weeks devoted
to reading and writing in different academic genres;
• Assessed by continuous and progressive weekly tasks, including
a written diagnostic; the result was an IELTS-equivalent score
upon which a student’s Direct Entry was determined.
Participants
The participants were 171 students - 51% of the total pre-entry
enrolment - who were completing either of the Centre’s pre-entry
courses – EAP or GB – and who consented to participate in the
study (see Table 2 for the major characteristics of the participants).
To briefly sketch the ethics procedure, the study and its materials
were approved by the university’s human ethics committee. Following
this, all students in the pre-entry cohort were given an invitation to
participate, a participant information sheet explaining the research,
and a consent form, all of which were on paper and in plain English.
The participant information sheet explained that normal classes would
be organised for students who did not consent and that participants
may benefit from the research because they would receive