According to the information provided on the BALEAP (British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes) website there are two main types of course in English for Academic Purposes. One is for students who want to improve their English for study purposes before they attend their main course at a British University. These courses are known as Pre-sessional courses. The other type is for students who are already at university and who want help with their academic English. These are called in-sessional courses.

EAP as a research discipline is directly related to the wider field of Applied Linguistics. The Journal of English for Academic Purposes states in its foreword that:

A wide range of linguistic, applied linguistic and educational topics may be treated from the perspective of English for Academic Purposes; these include: classroom language, teaching methodology, teacher education, assessment of language, needs analysis; materials development and evaluation, discourse analysis, acquisition studies in EAP contexts, research writing and speaking at all academic levels, the sociopolitics of English in academic uses and language planning.

Use the resources on this page to support your EAP development and independent study. There are links which focus on specific areas of academic learning such academic writing, academic reading, speaking and listening, presentations, study skills, editing and proofreading and language development.There is also a useful resource for both teachers and students which looks at important questions, debating and critical thinking.

Below is a fun psychological test which I devised for my students in Japan. I created this test in order to make them think more about communicative styles rather than simply focusing on the actual language as an isolated, emotionless subject. Many foreign students who I taught in England found academic debate, academic positioning, hedging and other core academic skills difficult even though they had a high level of proficiency in English. Use the small test below to assess your own communicative style and to see whether it is a good fit for speaking in English. Consider how you need to change your behaviours, way of thinking and method of expression when you change your language.








Academic Writing

Academic Literacy - a guide from the University of New England in Australia.
Academic Writing Explained - a very nice website looking at academic writing.
Advice on Academic Writing - advice from the University of Toronto.
Being Critical - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
British Universities and Academic Writing - interactive self-assessment activities.
Constructing an Essay - an excellent page with great tips on essay writing.
Describing Methodology - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
Editing Paragraphs - taken from the Writing DEN website.
Guide to Grammar and Writing - taken from the Capital Community College website.
How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay - taken from the About.com website.
Logic in Argumentative Writing - taken from the Purdue University website.
Paragraphing - taken from the Purdue University website.
Paragraph Development and Topic Sentences - taken from the CCCW.
Persuasive Essays - taken from the Essay Information website.
Practice Academic Writing - taken from the University of Sydney website.
Referring to Literature - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
Reporting Results - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
Sentence Combining Skills - taken from the Capital Community College website.
Sentence Construction - taken from the Purdue University website.
Sentence Variety - taken from the Capital Community College website.
Suggesting Solutions - how to make positive suggestions within scientific fields.
The Royal Literary Fund - everything you need to know about writing undergraduate essays.
Writing a Discussion - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
Writing an Essay - a comprehensive guide covering all aspects of essay construction.
Writing for University Courses - a great place to start for all levels.
Writing Introductions - taken from the University of Manchester's Phrasebank.
Writing Scientific Definitions - taken from one of Thailand's top educational institutions.
Writing University Assignments - an excellent resource for students.




Academic Reading

Academic Reading Skills - the University of Southampton's guide to academic reading.
Academic Reading Skills - produced by the University of Toronto.
Effective Academic Reading - taken from the University of Reading website.
Efficient Reading Skills - taken from UEFAP by Andy Gillett.
Effective Reading Techniques - taken from the University of Warwick website.
Further Topic Sentences - the University of Toronto's guide to topic sentences.
How to Read Academic Articles - nice guide for students to understand more.
Maximising Academic Reading - easily accessable advice based website.
Post-Reading Activities - taken from the University of West England Bristol website.
Practice Academic Reading - taken from the University of Sydney website.
Pre-Reading Activities - taken from the University of Warwick website.
Reading Assistance - very good website from the University of Tasmania.
Reading and Remembering - taken from the University of Canberra website.
Reading Comprehension - excellent guide from the Cuesta College website.
Reading Graphs and Tables - taken from one of Thailand's top educational institutions.
Reading Strategies - taken from the University of NSW, Australia website.
Reading Teleprompter - practice reading at different speeds in the style of a news reader.
Scanning and Skimming Activities - taken from UEFAP by Andy Gillett.
Scanning and Skimming Explained - taken from Thailand's top educational institution.
SQ3R Approach to Reading - a very thorough and rigid structural method of reading.
Systematic Reading SQ5R - the next step after mastering the SQ3R method.
The Anatomy of a Book - good questions to ask about any publication.
The Cornell Reading System - a simple step based reading method.
Thesis Statements / Topic Sentences - some basic practical activities for students.
Topic Sentences - Identifying topic sentences and support sentences.




Speaking & Listening

Academic Speaking - taken from the UEFAP website by Andy Gillett.
American Rhetoric 100 Speeches - a selection of famous speeches.
BBC voices from the Archives - listen to a variety of interviews.
Coursecasting Bilingual Education - excellent academic resource for listening.
EAP Listening Resource - created by the Santa Fe Community College.
English Listening Language Lab - free listening resource of over 1,000 listening activities.
EuroNews - news focused on Europe with lots of video to listen to.
Good Note-Taking - a review of note-taking procedures for students.
Great Speeches - a selection of dramatic speeches and video from the History Channel.
Listening - language learning website with some good links.
Listening Lab - wide variety of quizzes and games for imporving listening skills.
Microsoft Encarta Dictionary - search for a word and hear it pronounced.
Practice Academic Listening - taken from the University of Sydney website.
Practice Academic Speaking - taken from the University of Sydney website.
Skills for Academic Speaking - basic ideas discussed on the HEA website.

Sounds of English - activities and exercises for pronunciation and listening.
TV Commercials - listen and watch some old TV commercials and complete the activities.

Video Lectures - links to real lectures on a range of subjects.




Presentation Skills

Academic Presentation Skills - the structure of a presentation shown on video.
Analysing Seminar Discussions : Video Clip 1 - creating a world class city.
Analysing Seminar Discussions : Video Clip 2 - pollution and Hong Kong.
Answering Questions 1 - how not to answer questions or talk to your audience.
Answering Questions 2 - here, the question is answered in a much better manner.
Complete Presentation : Findings + Discussion Patterns - further structure.
Complete Presentation : Problem + Solution Patterns - structure of the presentation.
Concluding your Presentation : Video Clip 1 - clear, succinct conclusion.
Concluding your Presentation : Video Clip 2 - clear, succinct conclusion.
Designing Effective Oral Presentations - from the Rice University OWL website.
Giving an Oral Presentation at University - a useful guide for all university students.
Giving Oral Presentations - from University of Canberra in Australia.
Introducing your Presentation: Presenter 1 - current social issues in Hong Kong.
Introducing your Presentation: Presenter 2 - computer games in study.
Introducing your Presentation: Presenter 3 - use of English in freetime.
Key Steps to an Effective Presentation - practice your academic speaking.
Oral Presentation Guide - taken from one of Thailand's top educational institutions.
Organising your Presentation : Video Clip 1 - importance of good organisation.
Organising your Presentation : Video Clip 2 - focus on computer games.
Poster Presentations - taken from the University of Reading website.

Preparing an Oral Presentation - Kansas University tutorial on preparing presentations.
Presentation Advice - a complete guide to organising your presentation.

Scientific Presentations - resource materials relating to scientific presentations.
Using Visual Aids - how not to use visual aids.
Written & Spoken English: Video Clip 1 - developing your oral skills.
Written & Spoken English: Video Clip 2 - developing your oral skills.




Academic Study Skills

Academic Advising - nice guide from St. John's University.
Academic Tips - advice for students from an American perspective.
Academic Skills Guide - comprehensive study skills guide.
Academic Skills Resources - excellent page from the University of NSW, Australia.
A Guide to Referencing - referencing guide for students.
Dealing with Stress & Anxiety - seek help from your local support systems.
Exercises in Critical Thinking - through an analysis of various texts.
Harvard Referencing Guide - the Harvard style of referencing (download).
Internet Plagiarism - a guide to Internet Plagiarism.
Organising Yourself - time management, planning and much more.
Plagiarism - all you need to know about Plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Personal Development Planning - from the study4skills website.
Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism - taken from the University of Reading website.
Revision Guide - structured solutions to revision problems.
Search Engine Review - get the most out of search engine searches.
Seven Steps in Research - a guide for research students.
The Keys to College Success - a guide to good and bad academic behaviours.
Time Management - improving your academic performance.
Time Management Advice - how to manage your time as a student.
Tutorials and Seminars - a look at what is expected of the student in these situations.
Using Assignment Feedback - a huge assistance in producing better work.
Using Concordancers - getting specific vocabulary from the internet.




Editing & Paraphrasing

Common Proofreading Symbols - taken from the CCC website.
Editing and Proofreading Strategies for Revision - taken from the PU website.
Editing Tips - tips on editing your written work from the lifehack website.
Proofreading - taken from the UWM website.
Proofreading for Commas - taken from the Purdue University website.
Proofreading Strategies - taken from the Purdue University website.
Proofreading Written English - from the University of Southampton.
Proofreading your Paper - taken from the Purdue University website.
Revising Prose - taken from the Writing Center website.
Steps in Editing your Paper - taken from the Purdue University website.
Twelve Common Errors : An Editing Checklist - taken from the UWM website.




Language Development

A Word A Day - learn a new English word everyday.
Academic Grammer - web-based resource to help students with academic assignments.
Academic Vocab List defintions, pronounciation and Chinese translations.
Active and Passive Constructions / TRY THE Self-Test - from Big Dog's Grammar.
Agreement: Pronoun Antecedent / TRY THE Self-Test - from Big Dog's Grammar.
British National Corpus - look at some typical contexts in which words occur.
Cambridge Online Dictionary - quality dictionary which is easy to use.
Commas - Restrictive and Non-Restrictive - taken from the UWM website.
Common Grammatical Mistakes - taken from the Webgrammar website.
Conjunctions - created by Linda Bryson of GSU.
Cybergrammer - designed to support and develop knowledge of grammar.
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers / TRY THE Self-Test - from Big Dog's Grammar.
Dashes - taken from the University of Wisconsin-Madison website.
Development Group Dictionary - many great features with no advertising.
EAP Homework Activities - taken from the HKPU website.
EAP Tutorials and Exercises - taken from the HKPU website.
Electronic Vocabulary Building Book - vocabulary learning made more methodical.
English for University - a new site by Patrick McMahon of Plymouth University.

English Grammar on the Web - exercises from Georgia State University.
English Prefixes - learning more about English prefixes can help build your vocabulary.
Grammar Exercises - a variety of grammar exercises for EAP students.
Grammar Safari - search for and collect examples of language use.
Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation - taken from the Purdue University website.
Internet Grammar of English - online English grammar from University College, London.
Learn English - from the British Council's Learn English site.
Multilingual Dictionary - from all words dot com with 5 languages to choose from.

Noun Phrases - focuses on the use of NPs rather than clauses.

Online English Grammar - online grammar practice.
Prepositions / TRY THE Self-Test - taken from Big Dog's Grammar website.
Pronouns - taken from Big Dog's Grammar website.
Pronoun Reference - taken from Big Dog's Grammar website.
Punctuation - taken from the Purdue University website.
Semicolons - taken from the University of Wisconsin-Madison website.
Sentence Fragments / TRY THE Self-Test - from Big Dog's Grammar.
Spelling - taken from the Purdue University website.
Subject-Verb Agreement / TRY THE Self-Test - from Big Dog's Grammar.
The Complete Lexical Tutor - for data-driven language learning on the web.
The Sketch Engine - web-based language analysis tool.
University English - a regular blogspot by Patrick McMahon of Plymouth University.
Vocabulary Files - multilingual vocabulary lists for download.
Web Concordancer - for vocabulary and grammar study.

WebCorp - use the web to find out how words and phrases are used.
Word Games - games and activities based on Merriam Webster's dictionaries.
Words in the News - words used in recent BBC news reports.
Wordsurfing - expand your word power by creating an organised vocabulary notebook.
Wordwizard - everything concerning words and the English language.




A website that was brought to my attention recently which could be used in academic environments to promote critical thinking and structured debate is http://www.bigthink.com.

This website features a number of videos which propose questions connected to a whole host of social, religious, academic, historical and trivial events. An expert speaker gives their own opinion and users are invited to either agree or disagree with the response. Users can also form their own questions and upload video, a slideshow or simply audio and text. This would be a great addition to a critical thinking class in which students were either assigned or selected a video and prepared a critical or supportive response based on xxx factors. This website could also be used as a social networking site for an entire class with one member creating a video question and then as a homework activity other members add their response. A virtual debating environment for use outside of the classroom in order to promote active communication inside of the classroom - brilliant ! Below is an example screenshot of one such expert speaking. Sir Richard Branson asks - What are you doing personally about the energy crisis ? Within EAP and the many issues facing subject specific tuition this website may provide somewhat of an answer.





There are alternatives to this website which offer the same kind of environment such as http://6billionothers.com which is one of the best websites I have ever seen but http://www.bigthink.com is more appropriate for academic environments such as those found on EAP courses. One other website which is worth a mention is http://hub.witness.org which is a Youtube style video site dedicated to highlighting human rights abuse around the world. There are a number of videos posted by Amnesty International aimed at creating dialogue on a range of sensitive topics such as child labor, the death penalty and human trafficking. This website certainly has the potential to facilitate a classroom debate and critical thinking but perhaps it is a little too much for a language lesson and I would advise caution when approaching such sensitive topics.