ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of

E NGLISH for
Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6 (2007) 3–17

A CADEMIC P URPOSES www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap Why EAP is necessary: A survey of Hong Kong tertiary students
Stephen EvansÃ, Christopher Green
English Department, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract This article revisits a question posed by Hyland [(1997). Is EAP necessary? A survey of Hong Kong undergraduates. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 7, 77–99] in the Hong Kong higher education context: Is EAP necessary? The article presents the overall findings of a large-scale, multifaceted investigation into the language problems experienced by Cantonese-speaking students at Hong Kong’s largest English-medium university. Baseline data for the study were derived from a questionnaire survey of almost 5000 undergraduates from all 26 departments in the university. In terms of the number of student participants, the investigation is one of the largest ever undertaken in the field of EAP research. The findings from the student survey are illuminated by data from interviews with students and discussions with and surveys of departmental programme leaders. The findings indicate that a significant percentage of the subjects experience difficulties when studying content subjects through the medium of English. The evidence suggests that students’ problems centre on academic writing (particularly style, grammar and cohesion) and academic speaking (particularly grammar, fluency and pronunciation). The findings also indicate that students’ receptive and productive vocabularies are generally inadequate. Academic listening appears to present students with fewer difficulties than writing, speaking and reading. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for EAP course and materials design in light of the changing tertiary-education landscape in Hong Kong. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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