LEARNING TO TEACH ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES: SOME CURRENT TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

discipline within universities and further education institutions, both in Britain and worldwide. This expansion is confirmed by the number of recruitment advertisements to be found in the press at the present time. This availability of jobs in this field seems to contrast directly with shrinkages in more traditional recruitment areas such as modern languages and the Humanities, and is to be welcomed by recently qualified English language tutors seeking employment. However, the growth of EAP raises the accompanying issue of what forms of training are needed to meet the increasing numbers of international students. A reappraisal of the issue of training and development in EAP seems to be crucial since the EAP practitioner’s role is a highly complex one, for which no preparation seems to be wholly adequate. The role of the EAP tutor transcends the limited framework of language teaching, to involve institutional awareness and a detailed knowledge of specialised discourse. An EAP tutor needs to research and assist students in understanding and constructing texts in their disciplines and to actively ‘engage with the disciplines’ (Dudley-Evans and St John 1998). An understanding of the complex workings of th