ABSTRACT
This chapter presents two major debates about EAP that have emerged in the last two decades. Each critique of EAP is followed by a discussion of the published responses to it in the EAP literature. The first debate is between L2 compositionists and EAP specialists, centering on what should and should not be taught to non-native speakers of English, especially those enrolled in ESL university writing classes in anglophone countries. It is an exchange about the most appropriate pedagogy and content for postsecondary composition courses. The second debate revolves around ideology, that is, the political implications of EAP’s pragmatic approach to research and teaching. One purpose of discussing these debates is to demonstrate that EAP is a contested field in which openness to questions raised by critics strengthens its theory and practice. The other is to set the stage for chapter 4, where I outline a theory of critical EAP.
