The postgraduate certificate in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (TEAP) is a fully online course offered by the University of Leicester, designed for current or aspiring EAP teachers. The course consists of four modules, structured around collaborative learning activities and informed by the BALEAP competency framework, and emphasizes the use of various online tools to enhance teaching practice. Participants engage in work-based learning to apply EAP theories in their contexts while developing a professional portfolio.

1. Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching
English for Academic Purposes
English Language Teaching Unit
School of Education
www.le.ac.uk

2. • The Pg Cert in Teaching English for Academic Purposes is a
distance learning course for existing or potential teachers of
English for academic purposes leading to a postgraduate
certificate awarded by the University of Leicester.
• Being an a hundred per cent online course, the PG cert TEAP
is available in all parts of the world with internet connection.
It is delivered via the Blackboard VLE, a globally established,
extremely stable and easy to use online learning
environment. Blackboard is the official VLE at the University
of Leicester.

3. Introducing the course
The course landing page

4. • The course is organized into four modules, all of which are
closely informed by the BALEAP Competency Framework for
Teachers. BALEAP is the leading professional organization for
teachers of EAP in the UK. The modules are divided into three
units. Each unit contains 2 week worth of input and output
activities arranged in a series of six steps.
• The steps are designed to emulate pedagogic practice. Input
activities are audio, audio-video or reading based. Output
activities, called e-tivities, are based around collaborative
learning tools: wiki, blog or discussion forum – all found on
Blackboard.

5. The Modules
The structure of a module

6. The Units
Step 1: warm up

7. Step 2: contextualization
www.le.ac.uk

8. • The e-tivities and discussion for a are moderated by
an experienced EAP teacher trainer. Consideration
must be given to the particular skills of encouraging
participation, and provoking reflection and
investigation on the part of the learners.
• YouTube videos and Talis Aspire reading lists can all
be accessed from within the Blackboard
environment. This keeps the course materials behind
one single log in and reduces the frustrations of
multiple loggins and learning new environments as
well as reducing the number of technical issues.

9. Steps 3 and 4: input

10. Step 5: output
www.le.ac.uk

11. Steps 6: consolidation

12. The course also aims to demonstrate the power of
online tools for EAP teaching. Participants
experience using a range of web2 tools for their
work learning based tasks. Work based learning
gives participants the opportunity to apply EAP
learning and teaching theory to their own teaching
contexts as well as provide evidence of how far they
meet BALEAP professional criteria.
www.le.ac.uk

13. The work-based learning portfolio
Sample portfolio on Padlet ®

14. The electronic reading lists
Course general electronic reading list on Talis Aspire ®

15. Unit electronic reading list on Talis Aspire ®

16. Study Support
Study guides and tutorials

17. A great deal of attention has been given to the
incorporation synthesis of a range of tools and
platforms to create a socially engaging online
community to support distance learners wherever
they are in the world.
www.le.ac.uk

18. The discussion board

19. Blogs

20. Wikis

21. The online assessment and marking

22. Further information
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/education/distance-learning/pgcert-in-teaching-english-for-academic-purposes