Academic English
English for academic purposes (EAP), commonly known as Academic English, entails training students, usually in a higher education setting, to use language appropriately for study. It is one of the most common forms of English for specific purposes (ESP).
An EAP program focuses instruction on skills required to perform in an English-speaking academic context across core subject areas generally encountered in a university setting. Programs may also include a more narrow focus on the more specific linguistic demands of a particular area of study, for example business subjects. Programs may be divided into pre-sessional courses and courses taken alongside students' other subjects. In the former case, sometimes EAP courses may be intended to raise students' general English levels so that they can enter university.
In common with most language teaching, EAP instruction teaches vocabulary, grammar and the four skills (reading, writing, speaking - including pronunciation - and listening), but usually tries to tie these to the specific study needs of students; for example, a writing lesson would focus on writing essays rather than, say, business letters. Similarly, the vocabulary chosen for study tends to be based on academic texts. In addition, EAP practitioners often find that, either directly or indirectly, they are teaching study skills and often having to tackle differences in educational culture, such as differing attitudes to plagiarism. This trend has become more prominent as the numbers of foreign students attending UK universities, and other institutions across the English-speaking world, has increased over the last decade.