作者：尧可 赵欣歆
【Abstract】The term English for Academic Purposes （EAP） was first put forward by Tim John in 1974 and was accepted and extensively used by British Council in 1975. EAP courses are worldwide adopted while in China EGP （English for General purpose） is still the prevailing course. As a result， facing the existed problems in general English teaching for Chinese English learners， scholars explore the revolution. This article mainly illustrates EAP content and discuss about how Chinese universities set the standards for their own EAP courses.
【Key words】EAP； Course development
【作者簡介】尧可（1993.06-）， 女，江西南昌人，东华理工大学，硕士研究生， 助教 ，TESOL；赵欣歆，中国民航大学。
1. Introduction
The publish of the journal English for Academic Purposes demonstrates that EAP became one of the two main branches of English for Specific Purposes （ESP） within wider field of language learning and teaching （ELT） （Hyland， 2006）. Another main branch of ESP is EOP （English for Occupational Purposes）. EAP refers to ‘teaching English with the aim of assisting learners’ study or research in that language’ （Hyland， 2006）. Meanwhile，， EAP also divided into ESAP （English for Specific Academic Purpose） and EGAP （English for General Academic Purpose）. Not just theories， Tokyo University and Kyoto University arrange the first and second year in university for the study of EGAP and another two years for EGAP curriculum study. Universities in Hong Kong mainly require the EGAP courses （ Cai， 2012）. However， EAP courses are not widely accepted by Chinese universities. Instead， students learn English for general purpose （EGP）. This article will analyze from theoretical perspective towards the EAP course setting in China.
2. Differences between EGP and EAP
Differ from the English for general purpose （EGP）， EAP possess different principals and content.
EAP courses have some distinctive features. EAP courses are designed to meet the specific needs of highly-motivated students， courses are goal-driven rather than level-driven （Alexander， Argent， Spencer， 2008）. On the contrary， general English language teaching mainly focus on what level of language proficiency language learners should get.
Meanwhile， teaching materials and contents are related to the corresponding discipline of students. EAP courses emphasis on the English teaching aspects like vocabulary， grammar found in academic communication （Alexander， Argent， Spencer， 2008）. For example， teachers will choose a financial news report for listening training for students whose major are finance. Strevens （1988a） also mentioned that ‘EAP emphasizes on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax， lexis， discourse， semantic etc and analysis of the discourse’. For example， in EAP courses for students in medical school， medical academic vocabulary will be taught. EAP course has different teaching priorities. The priority of the EAP course is that reading and writing skills are particularly emphasized compared to listening and speaking.
