Pages: 55

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 13

This chapter explores the concept of specificity and its implications for teaching and learning in EAP. On one hand, practitioners have recognised that because the conventions of academic communication differ considerably across disciplines, identifying the particular language features, discourse practices, and communicative skills of target groups becomes central to teaching English in universities. They have therefore sought to create a more context-sensitive approach to English provision, based on closer cooperation with academic disciplines and research-informed course design. Alternatively, others have argued that this can lead to a teacher-centred prescriptivism and an overly rigid focus on certain forms and tasks at the expense of others, while failing to prepare students for any unpredictable new forms of communication in their professional careers. They therefore attempt to isolate the skills, language forms, and study activities thought to be common to all disciplines. A more balanced approach takes the student, rather than the student’s target discourses, as the starting point for specificity to adopt teaching practices that recognise the particular subject-matter needs and expertise of learners.

Pages: 14

This chapter charts the development of Academic Literacies as a field of inquiry, outlining its particular epistemology, methodology, and orientation to academic writing (and to a lesser extent, reading). The chapter documents foundational work in Academic Literacies, the sociohistorical contexts from which it emerged, and developments over the past 30 years, exploring key themes including the opacity of academic conventions as well as their historically situated, contested(able) nature, and the relationship between writing, identity, and power. It explores the ethnographic methodological orientation of Academic Literacies research, commensurate with a social practices orientation towards reading and writing as inseparable from context. This is followed by a discussion of how Ac Lits-informed ‘critique’ can be linked to transformative pedagogic practice in academic contexts. The chapter discusses specific ways in which Academic Literacies challenges and intersects with the field of EAP. It tracks connections with traditions within EAP that adopt an explicitly critical orientation towards linguistic and semiotic practices in academia, centring on academic writing as an issue of rights and social justice, as involving multiple linguistic and semiotic resources and writer/text trajectories, as a spatially configured networked activity, and as a (de)colonial practice.

Pages: 12

In the last decade or so, English has kept strengthening its already dominant position in global academia. High-stakes genres of academic writing continue to associate English with international publishing, while English-medium university programmes have become generally available in non-English-speaking countries. As a result, academics and students communicate across L1s with English as their lingua franca. This development has not been welcomed by all. In many countries, including northern Europe, English is viewed as a threat to local languages. Academia is seen as particularly endangered, with domain loss creeping in through international publishing and English-medium programmes. However, English in the abstract may not be the enemy: even though research publishing may be predominantly in English, research processes are often multilingual, and so are study programmes. In this chapter, we address issues of academic ELF. Unlike most lines of linguistic enquiry, ELF research started from a focus on speaking rather than writing. The pragmatics, strategies and norm construction in academic ELF speech have been investigated alongside ongoing language change. Studies have also raised questions concerning language policies for higher education and research. More recently, academic writing has gained ground, including publication processes and practices in different contexts.

Pages: 14

This chapter examines the European-inspired notion of content and language integrated learning (CLIL), and discusses what makes CLIL different from English-medium instruction (EMI) on the one hand and EAP on the other. For this revised edition, more recent work in the areas of CLIL and EMI has been added, while the historical background to the terms remains unchanged. After examining the definition of CLIL, the chapter maps out the relationship between CLIL, EMI and EAP and discusses the rise of EMI. Then, after summarising research into the disciplinary learning outcomes of EMI, the focus turns to who should teach CLIL and the source of the sometimes-difficult relationships between content and language experts. Can EAP professionals teach content? Can disciplinary experts teach language? Or does a CLIL approach necessarily imply collaboration between language and content teachers? These are some of the questions addressed in this chapter. The chapter concludes by suggesting the concept of disciplinary literacy as a way for content teachers to problematize CLIL and to begin to view themselves as teachers of disciplinary discourse.

Pages: 96

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 14

Studies investigating EAP have traditionally focused on higher education contexts; however, there is increasing recognition that the middle and secondary years of schooling are vital for developing language for high-stakes learning and assessment. It is in these years that literacy practices become increasingly reliant on language beyond everyday experience and increasingly responsive to disciplinary goals. To support English Language Learners to access discipline literacies, therefore pedagogies need to go beyond generic skills and strategies and integrate explicit teaching of discourse patterns that are specific to particular subject area learning. This chapter reports on international research projects that have been conducted to expand understandings of school-based disciplinary literacies. This research, informed by theories of social semiotics and sociology of education, has responded to three critical and related issues in literacy education. These are: the need for curriculum teachers and specialized English language teachers to develop knowledge of how their discipline works semiotically; the need to develop an accessible shared meta-language to make that knowledge visible to students through classroom talk and feedback, and the need to design pedagogies which scaffold students’ development of academic English for high-stakes disciplinary learning.

Pages: 14

This chapter discusses the unique challenges and evolving strategies in EAP pedagogy within undergraduate contexts. Unlike postgraduate students, undergraduates are still developing academic motivation and identities and often face fragmented instruction across disciplines. To address these complexities, I examine three interconnected pedagogical approaches: genre-based teaching that supports transfer; instruction that builds argumentation and critical thinking skills; and critical EAP practices that prioritize student agency and inclusion. Drawing on recent classroom-based research, I review how reflection and genre analysis tasks can deepen students’ understanding of academic discourse practices, including citation and expression of stance across varied disciplinary genres. I then describe explicit instruction that moves learners beyond rote “essay” formats toward more mature, evidence-driven argumentation. Finally, I illustrate how critical EAP tasks—such as student-designed inquiry projects and reflective journals—can empower undergraduates to question and reshape disciplinary norms. Ultimately, the chapter argues for an undergraduate EAP curriculum that equips students to meet and transform academic expectations.

Pages: 13

With many universities seeking to attract international students who pay tuition fees notably in excess of domestic students, the role and importance of English language ability for enrolment have become very salient. A prominent response from universities is the provision of pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes programmes. This chapter provides a state-of-the-art review of contemporary issues surrounding pre-sessional provision in Anglophone countries, updating my prior UK-focused review and covering developments that have notably changed the sector in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. I offer an updated synthesis of the literature on the effectiveness of such programmes, focusing on research strands encompassing three different measures: programme outcomes, students’ artefacts, and stakeholder perspectives. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research.

Pages: 12

Building upon Christine B. Feak’s insightful chapter on the same topic in the first edition of this Handbook, this chapter offers an updated overview of EAP provisions at the postgraduate level. Covering literature from the 2000s to the mid-2020s, it reflects a diverse array of geographical and institutional settings worldwide. The chapter begins by outlining the contexts of EAP specialists’ work with postgraduates, surveying in turn their institutional locations and espoused attributes, the challenges they faced, and their commitment to addressing varied needs and providing sustainable support. It then reviews corpus-based methods in postgraduate EAP support, illustrating different forms of corpus use and web-based, corpus-embedded learning systems. Following this, the chapter outlines theoretical underpinnings of EAP support for postgraduates and highlights the work on enhancing academic reading, listening, and speaking skills. Finally, it concludes by identifying key areas for future development, including the need for holistic EAP support beyond academic writing, pedagogical expansion to encompass a broader range of genres and registers, and the importance of training and professional development for EAP specialists.

Pages: 15

This chapter provides an in-depth look at the evolution and current status of EAP practice in China at the tertiary level. We first describe the college ELT in China to facilitate an understanding of how EAP is situated within this larger context. We then track the evolution of EAP in the college English curriculum by describing its emergence, the debates around it, and the resistance to it, some early attempts at implementing EAP, policy changes, and its official recognition in China’s national educational guidelines. After that, we introduce some cases of undergraduate- and graduate-level English curricula to showcase how EAP courses are designed, positioned, and practiced in the college English curricular system. Finally, we end the chapter with some brief thoughts on future EAP research and practice in the country.

Pages: 15

This chapter explores the evolving landscape of writing centers in international higher education, highlighting their adaptability, multilingual engagement, and multimodal approaches. Drawing on institutional profiles from 13 non-U.S. writing centers, it examines how centers across diverse contexts address the complex demands of academic writing instruction. While rooted in the U.S. model of one-to-one writing support, these centers have developed distinct structures and pedagogical strategies aligned with local linguistic, institutional, and cultural realities. The chapter discusses how writing centers navigate challenges such as resource constraints, limited visibility, and traditional views of writing instruction, while also leveraging opportunities for curricular integration, digital expansion, and AI-informed practices. Emphasis is placed on student-centered, genre-based, and multilingual approaches that respond to the needs of increasingly diverse academic communities. By situating writing centers as critical, context-sensitive sites for writing development, the chapter underscores their growing importance in fostering academic writing and institutional transformation in higher education worldwide.

Pages: 11

Given growing scholarly research and interest in writing for academic publication over recent decades, the field of English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) is establishing itself as an important domain within English for Academic Purposes (EAP). ERPP can be defined as a field of study and practice that addresses the concerns of researchers in all fields and disciplines who need to publish their research in international journals. The chapter will describe the emergence and expansion of ERPP; theoretical and methodological orientations framing ERPP research; research into writing for scholarly publication practices of EAL, Anglophone, and early-career scholars and graduate students; research into perspectives of editors and reviewers; research into the pedagogy of ERPP and relevant international policies, practices, and initiatives; ERPP pedagogy; the advancement of digital technologies and the implications for ERPP; and new directions in ERPP practice and research.

Pages: 67

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 13

This chapter explores major developments in the area of academic reading-for-writing (RFW) since the publication of the 2016 edition of the Handbook of EAP. The chapter shows how RFW has been an active domain of scholarship and pedagogy since 2016 and is now an integral part of EAP. Work in this area is now commonly referenced as source-based writing and integrated writing. Underlying these key terms is the notion that RFW is a hybrid act of literacy, a multi-faceted set of academic skills students must acquire to read and write about a wide array of source types ranging from traditional print texts to digitally constructed texts. The chapter moves from an opening section devoted to reconceptualizing RFW in light of recent scholarship to an exploration of issues related to assessing students’ RFW skills and performance, followed by an updated look at two core areas of source use: summarizing and synthesizing. The chapter also explores the idea that an important need moving forward is the construction of a viable model of development that accounts for varying degrees of student experience and expertise.

Pages: 13

This chapter analyzes selected dimensions of the involvement of language in L2 academic writing from a dual lens: How language is implicated in learning-to-write in academic settings (LW), on the one hand, and how academic L2 writing activity may contribute to language learning (writing-to-learn-language: WLL), on the other. The discussion of the LW dimension provides a synthesis of global trends in the domain, together with an account of two key concerns in disciplinary debates: the interplay between writing expertise and language abilities, and the multilingual nature of L2 literacy practices. The analysis of the WLL dimension offers an overview of the main approaches to investigating the connection between L2 writing and L2 learning, and then synthesizes trends in the cognitively-oriented strand of relevance for academic writing discussions. The chapter ends by listing key questions in need of further research attention.

Pages: 13

This chapter examines the role of academic discussion (dialogic or multi-party interaction) between students and lecturers in open class discussions and between students in group discussions. Speaking plays a significant role not only in language learning but also in academic learning. Students can gain additional insights into academic content through their endeavours to articulate ideas and information. Through discussion, students can co-construct ideas that would not necessarily emerge through individual speaking alone. Students are often required to actively participate in university lectures and classes. However, discussions can be challenging for ESL students as speakers have to respond in real time to questions or raise questions and comments with limited time to plan or formulate the linguistic expression. EAP courses often aim to support ESL students through the provision of content on discussion skills in academic speaking skills courses, although that content can be relatively limited compared to other areas, such as giving presentations. This Chapter reviews linguistic research into discourse in dialogic and multi-party academic interactions, reviews findings from needs analysis research into ESL students’ difficulties and classroom practices in EAP teaching and suggests additional content that can be targeted.

Pages: 13

Lectures remain a key, high-stakes pedagogical genre in higher education. However, effective lecture comprehension, note-taking, and ultimately retention are complex processes. First, lectures are typically multimodal events in which auditory and visual input needs to be processed simultaneously in real-time. Second, the efficacy with which students process and record this input depends on a myriad of student- and lecturer-related factors, including language proficiency, lecturing style, and lecture discourse features that accommodate and engage the listeners. Third, academic mobility and the associated rise of English as a medium of instruction have resulted in diverse contexts in which some lecturers and students are unfamiliar with each other’s language, cultural, and educational backgrounds. Fourth, online lectures bring with them specific listening affordances and challenges. Lecture listening training can help students benefit from lectures, while research into lecture listening and lecture discourse increases our understanding of students’ needs as well as how lecturers and EAP teachers can meet these. This chapter surveys research that has contributed to our understanding of lecture comprehension as well as the effective design of lecture listening materials and training.

Pages: 13

This chapter focuses on the acquisition of academic and disciplinary vocabulary and begins with an overview of the characteristics of academic and disciplinary vocabulary and the lexical demands of written and spoken academic texts. Several key issues are then discussed, using examples from research in secondary and tertiary contexts in English as a foreign and second language countries. The issues are: challenges for EAP learners for learning and using academic vocabulary; levels of vocabulary knowledge for EAP learners; and the need for principled approaches to support vocabulary acquisition and use in EAP. The chapter ends with some recommendations for EAP teachers and learners to support academic vocabulary development and directions for future research.

Pages: 105

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 14

The field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has been described from diverse theoretical perspectives and analytical foci. In this chapter, our informing theory is that of Systemic Functional Semiotics (SFS). The naming implies not only the theorization of language as social semiotic (as Systemic Functional Linguistics, or SFL) but also that of other semiotic modalities relevant to discourses of EAP, including those of image and paralanguage. Recent developments in Systemic Functional theory offer a revised perspective on register and the relationships that hold between the intrinsic functionality of language as ideational, interpersonal, and textual, and the extrinsic functionality of register as resources of field, tenor, and mode. Each variable is introduced as a set of meaning-making resources that function as abstracted beyond language. On this basis, we also have the means to appreciate how semiotic modalities other than language relate to the contextual resources of register. Together, these resources provide a social semiotic toolkit for undertaking research and for informing pedagogy in EAP. The chapter shares a focus on both research and pedagogic practices in EAP and looks at ways they interact, shaping the effectiveness of pedagogic programs and inspiring new directions for research.

Pages: 12

This chapter discusses the use of corpora for Academic Purposes. It starts by providing an overview of the different types of corpora that might be relevant to EAP practitioners and their students. Some of these are readily accessible to practitioners; others are not. It then briefly describes some corpus analysis techniques and analytical frameworks, and considers how these might inform our understanding of academic discourse. It concludes by discussing some of the corpus-related resources available to EAP practitioners, including guides to corpus creation and corpus use, writing assistants, and tools for Data Driven Learning.

Pages: 12

This chapter provides an overview of English for Academic Purposes research that has taken an ethnographic perspective. The chapter commences by outlining the basic characteristics of ethnographicallyoriented research and research techniques that are typically drawn on in these kinds of studies. The chapter continues by reviewing examples of ethnographically-oriented research that has been conducted in the area of English for Academic Purposes. The particular foci will be in the areas of academic writing, speaking, reading, and listening, and the teaching and learning of English for Academic Purposes. The chapter concludes by making suggestions for future ethnographically-oriented research in the area of English for Academic Purposes.

Pages: 13

Genre analysis is the key area of expertise that EAP teachers have, and subject specialists do not (they have genre knowledge but not analytically). The chapter looks at the characteristics of genres as established outside applied linguistics in relation to how EAP researchers have viewed the concept. Then it looks at a variety of ways in which genres in EAP genres can be classified: subdomain (educational, research, institutional); degree of occlusion; degree of dependence on other genres; and degree of genrification. Genres have relations with other genres of a variety of types: diachronic when old genres give birth to new; intrapersonal, when an individual knows several genres and they influence one another; paradigmatic where genres in different domains have similar functions; syntagmatic, where genres presuppose others in long chains; and hierarchy where within a field some genres have higher status than others. Finally, the chapter examines the methods that can be used to analyze genres.

Pages: 13

This chapter explores the implications of a multimodal approach for EAP, which is conceived as academic discourse in the broadest possible sense, involving theoretical and practical approaches to the study of English. From this perspective, the multimodal approach has significance for learning about the nature of academic discourse in the interactions of language with other modalities, in terms of enhancing students’ capacities for understanding and producing texts that employ and integrate a range of modalities, and developing pedagogical practices that facilitate these competencies in different contexts. Furthermore, recent advances in GenAI include large multimodal models (LMMs), such as GPT-4o, which are designed to process and generate combinations of text, images, audio, and videos. The ease with which students can readily access and use GenAI tools has created an environment where there is even greater urgency for critical approaches to multimodality to be integrated into EAP, given the unique challenges in this field, which focus on language and multimodal proficiency in academic contexts.

Pages: 12

Intercultural rhetoric (IR) is the study of written discourse between and among individuals with different cultural backgrounds. It examines the influences of first language, culture, and education on the production of texts in a second language to advance intercultural communication research, as well as informing editors, translators, and language and composition instructors and learners about reasons for variations in discourse features such as attitude markers, hedges, self-references, and transitions among writers from different linguistic backgrounds. To truly understand IR today and how it informs – and is informed by – English for Academic Purposes (EAP), one must trace its history from its beginnings as contrastive rhetoric (CR) to see how it has re-conceptualized culture as multiple and dynamic, moved from focusing on text to context, and adopted research methods from fields such as genre studies, sociolinguistics, and corpus linguistics to strengthen its empirical foundations. IR can also serve as a bridge between EAP and English as a lingua franca (ELF), which have often been placed at odds with one another.

Pages: 12

This chapter charts the rise, decline, and potential future of critical EAP as an ideological frontline in the ‘EAP story’. The chapter sets out the emergence of CEAP in the 1990s and 2000s, and its origins in the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School of the 1930s. As developed by Benesch and Pennycook, CEAP was also conceived as a discourse and pedagogy of emancipation, challenging the educational status quo. This is termed ‘first wave’ Critical EAP. The chapter then highlights the risk that Critical EAP becomes simply another regime of truth, a new status quo, that in turn imposes a new hegemony on learners; a potential ‘crisis of the first wave’. The chapter then explores the scope for a ‘second wave Critical EAP’ located in local practice, creating space to better critique the critical and empower learners and their communities. The chapter concludes with a look at how, though EAP has entered a productive era of self-reflection and taken a ‘social turn’, Critical EAP has, to some degree, faded from view. Nevertheless, it is argued that the grand narratives advanced by CEAP remain relevant and underpin much of the social turn.

Pages: 15

This chapter explores the recent and growing interest in using diachronic analyses to track changes in EAP research and features of academic research papers. Bibliometrics is a quantitative approach used in library and information sciences to analyse academic publications. It is the approach behind the Science Citation Index and has been used to study the research productivity of individual scholars and countries and to determine the degree of authorial collaboration and research networks in particular fields. In applied linguistics, it has begun to show the most popular research topics or highly cited authors and publications in a field and to explore changes in features such as stance, metadiscourse and interaction and to provide an overview of the main trends in second language acquisition, writing centre research, and key journals in the field of EAP. The results show that EAP has emerged as a theory and research-informed applied endeavour with a global reach, and how some of the key features of academic writing have come to dominate interest in teaching and research.

Pages: 82

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 12

This chapter delves into the enduring significance of lectures as a core teaching genre in higher education. In an era where the internet and digital technologies are reshaping education, it discusses the evolution from face-to-face to online lectures by examining the affordances and constraints of the digital context for communication. After an overview of research on lecture discourse, it presents findings from a literature review on pedagogic practices in EAP lectures, revealing the integration of diverse pedagogic approaches, particularly multilingual practices. The chapter highlights the importance of preparing EAP learners for the workplace and supporting their academic and personal growth through interactive lectures. Finally, it identifies future research directions to address the needs of contemporary society and provides some recommendations for lecture practices to enhance EAP learning.

Pages: 13

The chapter starts by looking at the changing fortunes of disciplinary textbooks as materials for language study and practice in EAP, tracing how genre approaches contributed to giving textbooks a limited but much more specific role as resources for learners and teachers. Genre perspectives have helped practitioners recognize that textbooks may give students an introduction to the basic notions and lexis of their area of study, but will mostly familiarize students with the rhetorical structures of exposition, without presenting a picture of the multiplicity of positions that characterize scholarly argument. Epistemic evaluation, for example, is often said to be limited in textbooks, and attribution plays a minor role. And yet textbooks manage to introduce students to disciplinary ways of arguing, specific approaches, theories, and positions. The nature, function, and structure of textbooks are shown to vary across disciplines, under the influence of what are perceived as traditional steps into the discipline and according to the different roles of interpretative or empirical methods. A wide range of approaches have contributed to a clearer picture of textbook discourse, such as corpus approaches and critical discourse analysis. More recently, contributions have come from multimodal studies, digital discourse analysis, and studies on knowledge communication.

Pages: 12

‘Seminars’ is a broad umbrella term used to refer to an oral academic genre that has been used to embrace both student-led, interactive lectures and expert-to-expert talks. The former type has received most attention and has focused attention on structure, metadiscourse, modifiers, multimodality, silence, interaction, academic culture and politeness, all from different strands. The other type of seminars, the expert-to-expert seminar, usually regarded as a research genre, remains understudied. While it shares similarities with other types of research-process genres like colloquia or conferences, it deploys distinctive features. Understood as a one-time specialised talk on ongoing research given by an expert visiting another university to an expert audience or to other colleagues within international research projects, expert seminars became research webinars (online seminars), particularly during the pandemic and subsequent years. Seminars are also studied along the axis of native and non-native speakers, where English is used as the medium of instruction in student seminars in jurisdictions where English is not the official language, or as the lingua franca in expert research discussions. Participants’ familiarity with the topic, language proficiency, audience, and purpose seem to shape both genres. This knowledge is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of oral academic genres.

Pages: 14

The Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation has gained much traction as an academic genre reserved only for graduate students. Using a single static slide as a visual aid, presenters have three minutes to explain their thesis projects to a broad and intelligent audience. This chapter presents an up-to-date overview of 3MT presentations by synthesising research findings on the rhetorical, linguistic, multimodal, and critical discourse features of the genre. Much research attention has been given to the rhetorical moves and metadiscoursal features of 3MT presentations, revealing potential disciplinary variations. Comparative analyses of related genres have identified genre-specific characteristics. Furthermore, investigations into the visual features of the single slide, along with other non-linguistic resources such as gestures, have contributed to a more holistic understanding of the genre. Methodologically, corpus-based text analysis has been the predominant approach, though recent efforts have also incorporated observation techniques. However, existing research has primarily focused on the final product rather than the process itself. In light of this, we recommend that future studies explore processual aspects, using a wider range of methods such as participatory and ethnographic methods as well as pedagogical interventions, to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this increasingly popular academic genre.

Pages: 16

The PhD defence or viva is the doctoral student’s final rite of passage before the award of the doctoral degree. In many places, it constitutes a mandatory final examination, and it is often held in English even outside of Anglophone contexts. What this examination looks like varies, however. This chapter will describe the genre of PhD defences in different geographical contexts by first focusing on the general genre features of the PhD defence/viva, such as the purpose and the timing of the defence/viva in the PhD education process, the participants, and the structure of the defence. After that, the chapter will survey PhD defences in different parts of the world, such as the US, the UK, Asia, and Europe. The description of PhD defences in these different contexts will be provided through a review of previous research and complemented by informant accounts of defences they have participated in, and any available institutional documents regulating how defences should be conducted.

Pages: 13

Digital genres are increasingly employed by academics and science journalists not only to communicate with peers but also to disseminate academic knowledge to broader audiences and to serve as pedagogical tools in e-learning contexts. This chapter focuses on this dissemination and the educational purpose of digital genres. It begins by examining the affordances that make these genres suitable for educational and teaching purposes (e.g., hypertextuality, multimodality, interactivity, and wide reach). Next, it reviews research on the linguistic and discursive features of these genres, focusing in particular on blogs and news websites for science dissemination (e.g., The Conversation), social media formats such as Twitter/X genres, and audio(visual) genres, such as educational podcasts or YouTube science videos. Finally, since digital media create new needs for EAP learners—including the need to interpret and produce emerging genres and participate in new communicative practices—and provide new contexts for learning, this chapter discusses studies on how digital genres can be effectively integrated into the classroom to help students develop academic and digital literacies.

Pages: 67

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 13

This chapter surveys the application of genre-based approaches to teaching and analysing dissertations and theses in EAP. The chapter offers a critical examination of genre theories and their relevance to EAP contexts, and it also explores how genre frameworks can enhance the teaching and learning of dissertation writing. Drawing on existing literature and empirical research findings, the chapter begins by reviewing key concepts such as genre, rhetorical awareness, and discourse community within the context of EAP dissertations, with particular attention to interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary variation. It then assesses the practical implications of genre-based approaches for both instructors and students, highlighting the potential benefits and challenges associated with their implementation. Overall, this chapter argues for the integration of genre-based pedagogical practices into EAP dissertation and thesis instruction.

Pages: 11

Though sometimes seen as less prestigious than paper sessions, poster sessions are generally valued by the scientific community as an important component of scientific conferences, serving as both a legitimate substitute for paper presentations and an engaging and interesting event to attend. The current chapter will offer a review of the literature on the poster genre, highlighting important findings and concentrating on the latest developments. Because the academic poster is a multimodal medium utilized to transfer scientific knowledge, it is subject to technological changes and improvements. The present chapter will, therefore, consider if and how the poster design process and the genre itself are evolving, and if the communicative event is ultimately affected by these changes.

Pages: 13

Research on the research article has remained important in English for Academic Purposes since Swales’s early work on research article introductions. This chapter first discusses the organization of the main sections of the research article. Although early studies mostly focused on introductions and abstracts, later studies have considered other sections, such as results and discussions, with focused analyses of specific moves of a section across disciplines and languages. The structure of smaller textual elements such as titles and figure legends, and visual elements such as graphical abstracts, is also discussed in this chapter. A second focus of the chapter is research on the construction of rhetorical features, such as stance, author presence, and intertextuality, and the use of lexical bundles in research articles. Many studies have sought to relate quantitative findings of linguistic features to functional moves and steps, such as metadiscourse elements to rhetorical steps. Additionally, the effect of contextual variables such as discipline and the author’s first language, gender, and novice and expert status on these rhetorical and lexicogrammatical features has been considered. Finally, the chapter considers the pedagogical impacts of the research findings and suggests areas for future research.

Pages: 15

Presentation advice often emphasizes the importance of capturing the audience’s attention from the outset—through a quote, a joke, or a compelling hook. There are numerous websites, YouTube videos, and textbooks offering tips for better presentations. Academic presentations (APs), in particular, are a central mode of knowledge dissemination in both professional and academic contexts. For students, APs are often a form of assessment, shaped by group dynamics, speaker identity, and language background. At the postgraduate level, events like dissertation defenses highlight the high-stakes nature of these performances. For both students and faculty, APs can be high-stakes and are a routine, significant component of academic life. For faculty members, APs range from plenary lectures, invited talks, conference papers, and informal seminars, delivered to audiences of varying sizes and levels of expertise. These presentations are opportunities to share research and also moments of informal peer evaluation and professional visibility. This chapter focuses on faculty-led APs, examining the communicative and structural features. We argue that understanding the rhetorical and performative dimensions of these presentations can offer insights for students and other speakers, enhancing their ability to engage audiences, convey complex ideas clearly, and participate more effectively in academic discourse.

Pages: 13

Research into digital research genres is relatively new, and the speed of technological development poses continuous challenges to researchers. This chapter engages with a growing body of EAP research on digital research genres, starting with questions concerning their conceptualization in the literature and state of the art. Zooming in on the research blog as an example of a stabilized digital research genre, the chapter discusses its key features, including hybridity, dialogicity, and recontextualization. Next, the chapter outlines the research methods used to study digital research genres, and finally reviews several pedagogical applications. On the whole, digital research genres that emerged as a result of Web 2.0 are characterized by more explicit writer-reader interaction, fewer editing filters, and an increased degree of dialogicity. At the same time, we are currently witnessing a shift towards more uniform and standardized language use resulting from the emergence of large language models, such as ChatGPT.

Pages: 110

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 15

This chapter examines the constructs of “needs” and “needs analysis” in academic settings to inform the curriculum design of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. It begins by defining and classifying EAP needs, and outlining the stages in the needs analysis process. After this, the historical evolution of the concept is briefly traced. The next section reviews research conducted in diverse academic settings worldwide to discuss the key principles of needs analysis. The final section discusses future directions and current challenges in EAP needs analysis, from the internationalisation drive of higher education institutions to the integration of digital literacy skills and the growing influence of GenAI in EAP courses.

Pages: 15

Materials and tasks play a pivotal role in EAP instruction, enabling students to develop the diverse competencies required for success in English-medium higher education. EAP needs analyses highlight essential skills such as academic task navigation, learning strategies, critical thinking, and test-taking abilities, though specific requirements vary across disciplines and contexts. Effective EAP materials holistically address these varied needs by modeling academic and professional processes through project-based and collaborative tasks. This chapter examines the pedagogical principles underlying EAP materials and task design, with a focus on authenticity, selection, adaptation, and relevant frameworks. It also presents practical classroom activities, including the use of worksheets, computer-assisted language learning tools (e.g., corpus analysis, generative AI), and exemplars. The chapter emphasizes the importance of adapting materials to learners’ contexts, collaborating with disciplinary experts, and integrating technology to foster both individual and collaborative learning.

Pages: 15

This chapter examines the intersection of technology and English for Academic Purposes (EAP), with a focus on the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI). It begins with a review of the historical development of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), highlighting AI as its most recent advancement and exploring its implications for EAP. The chapter then addresses key issues in the integration of AI into EAP, discussing both its affordances and challenges. To illuminate current research trends, we summarize key findings on how AI technologies—such as intelligent tutors, adaptive systems, and virtual reality (VR)—contribute to three major areas of EAP: academic reading, vocabulary, and writing. We also introduce an AI-based writing platform, PapyrusAI, and highlight its specific affordances for supporting multilingual writers in academic settings. The chapter concludes with practical recommendations and discusses future directions for technology-supported EAP.

Pages: 12

Intertextuality is a pervasive feature of academic texts and arises in many forms. It is perhaps most conspicuous in references to other sources; such references are found in the preponderance of written academic genres. In addition, the highly conventional nature of much academic discourse creates a web of less direct ties among works with a common purpose, intended readership, etc. These indirect ties—or rather the textual characteristics which result from them—are seldom if ever explicitly acknowledged. References, on the other hand, constitute explicit signals of direct intertextual relationships, and it is a widespread expectation that such explicit signals of acknowledgement will be provided. When they are not, the result is an unconventional relationship which is frequently labelled ‘plagiarism’ and is castigated as a violation of academic integrity. This chapter reviews the rather disparate strands of research on intertextuality and plagiarism with relevance for English for Academic Purposes. It concludes with recommendations for further research and for teaching practice.

Pages: 13

This chapter defines corpus-based instruction (CBI) as the use of corpus tools and techniques in language pedagogy and discusses data-driven learning in both class-based and self-instruction. The introduction situates CBI within EAP as evidenced by recent overviews of the field and meta-analyses of its use and effectiveness. The second section addresses two key issue areas for consideration by would-be instructors: first, what are the overall objectives of using CBI? Is the corpus primarily used for student reference or for exploratory learning? The answer entails choices as to the extent of teacher scaffolding required, ranging from highly structured teacher-guided interventions to self-directed autonomous learning. The second and connected question concerns the choice of an appropriate corpus. The affordances of different types of corpora are examined: learner and expert, specialised and general, ready-made and do-it-yourself. The third section focuses on the use of CBI in five areas of EAP: writing, vocabulary, speaking, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension. A critical overview of pedagogy is provided with recommendations for practice. The fourth section highlights the influence of artificial intelligence applications on CBI, discussing how they might complement or conflict with corpus-based initiatives. The chapter concludes by making suggestions for future research.

Pages: 13

Drawing on the growing convergence of research in the fields of digital pedagogies and EAP, this chapter reconciles different perspectives in digital and online learning, with a view to bringing together a collection of pedagogical insights to inform the development of effective online pedagogies for the teaching of EAP. Drawing on research on digital pedagogy in online asynchronous contexts, we discuss how EAP teaching can be supported online, reflecting on the digital recontextualization of key factors integral to effective language teaching and learning, such as interaction and engagement. We subsequently review the current state of the art in online synchronous learning and identify effective means for teaching and learning through and with technology. To put this research into practice, a case study is then presented, designed to guide researchers and practitioners on the effective implementation and evaluation of online EAP classes. The chapter closes with a critical reflection on the future of online EAP.

Pages: 12

The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has posed significant challenges for (English) academic writing given its ability to instantly produce text in an academic register across any genre or discipline through a simple natural language prompt. Studies have already shown that generative AI use is difficult to automatically detect, that accompanying citations, references and even content may be factually incorrect (or ‘hallucinated’), and that students of English for Academic Purposes could over-rely on generative AI at the expense of authentically acquiring the requisite research and composition skills required to succeed in academia. At the same time, however, generative AI applications have the potential to fundamentally change the way that English for Academic Purposes is learned and taught, for example through the provision of instant local and global written (corrective) feedback across multiple drafts, creation of exemplars designed and composed to suit specific individual disciplinary content and/or linguistic needs, automatically-generated assessment practice items, and many more. This chapter explores both affordances and issues as related to the introduction and potential integration of generative AI within the English for Academic Purposes classroom, serving as a guide to achieving best practice for both learners and practitioners while seeking to downplay purported negative perceptions regarding the ‘end’ of EAP as we know it.

Pages: 13

Assessment is a critical aspect of any English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. In this revision of our chapter from the first edition, we start by distinguishing between testing and assessment and discuss major purposes for assessment. We review the history of language assessment and EAP testing specifically, as well as current critical issues and topics in EAP assessment, particularly the increase in online assessment methods in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. We update our section on research methodology and contributions of research to assessing EAP. Finally, we discuss future directions in testing, especially concerning the impact of generative AI on item development, test security, and scoring.

Pages: 41

No chapter abstract available.

Pages: 13

This chapter maps the long-standing concerns around the importance of the education and development of EAP practitioners. We consider ways of addressing the current lacuna in practitioner education and of enhancing the standing and impact of EAP through practitioner development. Drawing both on theory and on some promising examples of education and development, we argue for greater collective attention to the establishment of: the knowledge-base for practitioners; greater clarity around credentials for practitioners entering the profession; an ethical framework to ensure the development of all practitioners; promotion of effective means for practitioners to develop through scholarship and to make important contributions to the ideational domain of EAP and other fields. We intend to stress that, through education and development, practitioners can enhance their legitimation and agency in higher education and have a greater impact on student education.

Pages: 12

This chapter addresses a topic that has recently begun to attract interest among EAP writing scholars and teacher educators: the significantly underexplored question of what constitutes expertise in second language writing instruction. The chapter contextualizes this situation with an analysis of coverage of writing teachers in the flagship EAP-related publications, Journal of English for Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes, since their inception. The analysis reveals limited interest in writing teachers. The chapter then makes a case for an increased focus on L2 writing teacher expertise and examines factors potentially contributing to such expertise. This is followed by an exploration of potential conceptualizations of L2 writing teacher expertise that could guide future research as well as writing teacher education courses. The focus then shifts to recent empirical studies of L2 writing teachers within an expertise lens, especially in EAP instructional contexts. The chapter closes with the conclusion that progress is being made in addressing what has been called the “expertise gap,” but that there is a need for increased attention in this area..

Pages: 14

This chapter focuses on the notion of EAP practitioners as researchers of their own pedagogical contexts, whether these be offline or online. It begins by considering the emergence of practitioner research (PR) in language education, including EAP, over the last thirty years or so. We then provide an overview of current approaches to PR that can be taken, including action research, exploratory practice, and reflective practice. Next, we review several key studies conducted between 2014 and 2024, including in this synthesis perspectives such as where such studies have mainly been conducted, what topic areas are focused upon, what similarities and differences can be observed in types of studies and methodological approaches, and what key findings have emerged on where PR can contribute to existing research. We conclude with recommendations for further practice and research, covering issues such as what needs to be in place to foster PR, what forms of research dissemination might be appropriate for EAP practitioners, what kind of professional development in PR might be valuable, and what areas of research could be pursued to gain a deeper understanding of EAP PR.