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Aviation English as The Lingua Franca: Needs and Expectations of Tertiary Level ESP Students in Turkey

Aviation English is the lingua franca in aviation, and it is used by both native and non-native English-speaking pilots and air traffic controllers. However, such diversity in its speakers brings communication problems. Therefore, the aviation industry needs qualified pilot candidates. Accordingly, the present study aimed to analyze the needs of ESP students enrolled in Aviation English courses so that effective ESP courses can be designed. To this end, a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design was adopted, and data were collected in two consecutive phases. First, the Aviation English Needs Analysis Questionnaire (AENAQ) was developed and administered to 323 participants. Then, semi-structured interviews were held to gain further insights into their perceived needs. The findings showed that listening and speaking were the most prominent skills ESP students needed to improve. It was also found that they needed more hands-on experience in ESP courses to attain their personal and professional goals. The most significant pedagogical implication for ESP practitioners and curriculum designers is that the core content of current ESP curricula cannot fully address the needs of ESP students.

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A Corpus-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study of Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in Discussion and Conclusion Sections of Research Articles

In the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), scholars from a wide array of disciplines have revealed a marked tendency to communicate their authorial stances with their readers through the use of metadiscourse in Research Articles (RAs). This study aimed to investigate four of the interactional metadiscourse markers-hedges, boosters, attitude markers and self-mentions-taken from Hyland’s (2015) and Hyland and Tse's (2004) frameworks in the Discussion and Conclusion sections of Applied Linguistics, Physics, Psychology, and Cardiology RAs. To this end, a large corpus consisting of 400 RAs was selected for the purpose of corpus analysis. The data were first analyzed using AntConc to obtain the statistical frequency of the number of markers used in each discipline. A Chi-square analysis was then run to compare the results. The results suggested a striking resemblance and remarkable differences among the four disciplines. Based on the findings, some implications are drawn with plausible applicability in EAP syllabus design and academic genre. Finally, suggestions are made for future research.

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Exploring Hybrid EAP Writing Facilitated by the Holistic Shepherd Leadership Approach for SDG Issues

What has English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing had to encounter during the Covid-19-induced distance education in addition to the common challenges of students' difficulties in the face of a lack of social collaboration? This study drew upon the theoretical framework of the Holistic Shepherd Leadership Approach (HSLA) to address these issues in a junior EAP course in a hybrid mode, and to examine learners' perceptions of their experiences of writing an opinion letter regarding Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The researcher employed tests of entry and exit-level writing proficiency assessed in terms of quality and quantity, a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire, and stratified interviews to collect 34 participants' responses. The results showed positive pedagogical, cognitive, and affective results, linked with mixed conceptions regarding technical issues, and emerging challenges related to the holistic needs of different levels of learners. Implications and pedagogical strategies are offered.