The leap into TEAP: the role of the BALEAP competency framework in the professional development of new EAP teachers

Teaching English for Academic Purposes is a mature and expanding discipline which has the potential to inform teaching practices in other areas of ELT with its needs-driven contextualised approach. In the UK the British Association of Lecturers of English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP) plays a key role in setting and maintaining standards in EAP, through its accreditation of pre-sessional courses and also through the specification of a framework of EAP Teacher Competencies. This framework now informs the approach to recruitment and professional development of teachers on BALEAP accredited pre-sessional courses . In this talk I will derive some ‘taken for granted’ aspects of EAP which are essential for new teachers to understand. I will present key aspects of the BALEAP competencies framework divided into core competencies which new EAP teachers can reasonably be expected to bring with them to their new role and advanced competencies which require further development. I will suggest some of the attributes that new EAP teachers need to acquire to work successfully in EAP.