Investigating the Demands on Students of English Medium Instruction (EMI) Courses to Better Focus English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Courses

As English-Medium Instruction (EMI) courses become more and more common, English for Aca-demic Purposes (EAP) courses, which typically serve as preparation for academic studies in English, need to adapt to target the particular skills and abilities that students need to succeed in EMI. This study, undertaken at a university in Japan which is greatly expanding its provision of EMI courses, aimed to gain a concrete understanding of the specific demands of EMI courses at the institution in order to further develop the university’s EAP programme. By surveying EMI instructors as to the tasks students undertake in their classes and the ability of students to deal with those tasks, four core skills were identified as requiring particular attention in the EAP courses, namely, writing es-says/reports in English, engaging in discussions in English, listening to lectures given in English, and reading papers/book chapters/other written materials in English. Aspects of these skills are ca-tered to within the current EAP courses, but there are also possible ways in which the courses could be adapted to provide more effective preparation for students prior to taking the EMI courses.