In this ‘Researching EAP Practice!’ paper, I reflect on the experience of embedding learner-initiated enquiry into an in-sessional EAP course and argue that the process can be viewed as a continuous exploration of learners’ needs. First, I explain the rationale for adopting Exploratory Practice (EP)-a form of practitioner research-to position EAP undergraduates at a UK university as learner-researchers. I then reveal why our EAP team harnessed EP’s central process of ‘puzzling’ to develop personalised research agendas and encourage student engagement, practitioner collaboration and novel learning. Finally, I outline how academic and practitioner research in EAP combined with our professional development experiences shaped the approach taken. I gathered a range of qualitative data, observing learners as they puzzled, analysing written summaries of their puzzles and cross-referencing these with my own reflective journal entries. This integration of research and pedagogy created several synergies: Through puzzling, learners better understood their academic journeys, and some highlighted the transferable potential of puzzling. The teaching team also benefited as we began to view learner-initiated puzzling as a continuous exploration, illumination and assessment of learners’ needs. This paper offers a practitioner’s perspective on continuous needs assessment with insights for EAP lecturers and those in adjacent fields.

在本“研究EAP实践”中！在这篇论文中，我反思了将学习者发起的探究嵌入到会期EAP课程中的经验，并认为该过程可以看作是对学习者需求的不断探索。首先，我解释了采用探索性练习（EP）（一种从业者研究的形式）的原理，以将英国大学中的EAP本科生定位为学习者。然后，我将揭示为什么我们的EAP团队会利用EP的“困惑”这一中心流程来制定个性化的研究议程，并鼓励学生参与，从业者合作和新颖学习。最后，我概述了EAP中的学术和实践研究如何结合我们的专业发展经验来塑造所采用的方法。我收集了一系列定性数据，观察学习者的困惑，分析他们的难题的书面摘要，并将其与我自己的反思性日记条目进行交叉引用。研究与教学法的这种融合产生了多种协同作用：通过迷惑，学习者可以更好地理解他们的学术历程，并且一些人强调了迷惑的可转移潜力。当我们开始将学习者引发的困惑看作是对学习者需求的不断探索，启发和评估时，教学​​团队也从中受益。本文提供了从业者对持续需求评估的观点，并为EAP讲师和邻近领域的讲师提供了见解。有些人强调了令人困惑的可转移潜力。当我们开始将学习者引发的困惑看作是对学习者需求的不断探索，启发和评估时，教学​​团队也从中受益。本文提供了从业者对持续需求评估的观点，并为EAP讲师和邻近领域的讲师提供了见解。有些人强调了令人困惑的可转移潜力。当我们开始将学习者引发的困惑看作是对学习者需求的不断探索，启发和评估时，教学​​团队也从中受益。本文提供了从业者对持续需求评估的观点，并为EAP讲师和邻近领域的讲师提供了见解。