ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three approaches to English for Academic Purposes (EAP), namely, corpus-based approach, genre-based approach and social context-based approach. The direct use of corpus data by students and teachers in class is less widespread than indirect use and has been applied primarily in the context of academic writing. Corpus software provides several tools which present language data in different ways, but the most frequently used for pedagogical purposes is the concordancer. Working with genre has become one of the most widespread and valuable ways of researching and teaching EAP. Corpus-based and genre-based approaches to EAP both share an important focus on texts. Academic literacies researchers use ethnographic methods such as surveying, interviewing and collecting texts in order to gather data about the social context and use these data as the basis for engaging with the participants and developing EAP courses.
