Emerging Environments of English for Academic Purposes and the Implications for Learning Materials'

Commercial materials can offer many practical benefits to the EAP teacher. But how useful are EAP materials produced predominantly for western contexts to learners in Southeast Asia? This paper examines some limitations in commercial EAP materials. In particular, I will focus on socio-cultural bias present in these materials. I will do this in the context of three EAP environments, which I have distinguished. Each of these environments will be described and compared. I will end by proposing some possible solutions to help meet the needs of our EAP environments. Although examples will be drawn mainly from Southeast Asia, the discussion will be of interest to anyone involved in EAP in otherAsian countries.