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While communication skills in English are essential for students who are enrolled in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) around the world, it is the academic, professional and vocational skills necessary to obtain suitable employment after graduation that remain their primary goal. That functional or practical orientation is both a challenge and an opportunity for students, academic institutions and language teaching programs that use English as the language of instruction outside English-speaking countries.

In part, the challenge derives from political and economic pressures demanding efficiency and effectiveness from EAP programs to enable their students to attain career goals. The pressure is on EAP programs to accelerate learners towards their academic careers, where they need to cope with advanced language, even though most of them would only qualify as intermediate learners according to international …