Towards the new construct of academic English in the digital age

Abstract

The increasing use of digital educational technologies in Higher Education (HE) means that the nature of communication may be shifting. Assessments of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) need to be reconceptualised accordingly, to reflect the new and complex ways in which language is used in HE. With a view to inform EAP assessments, our study set out to identify key trends related to Academic English using a scoping review of the literature. Findings revealed two major trends: (a) a shift towards multimodal communication which has in turn resulted in the emergence of new types of academic assignments, multimodal genres, and the need for students to acquire new skills to operate within this multimodal arena; and (b) the limitations of existing skills-based approaches to assessment and the need to move towards integrated skills assessment. We discuss the implications of these findings for EAP assessments.