In Service EAP Teachers’ Beliefs About Academic Writing and its Influence on Instruction

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to discuss how experienced English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers’ beliefs about academic writing have affected their instruction. The data comprised two semi-structured interviews conducted with three experienced Brazilian EAP teachers working at a large university language center. Their course programs were also collected. The analysis of the six interviews revealed that the instructors´ structuralist view of language affected the product-based teaching of writing. In order to develop themselves as EAP instructors, they have to face some challenges: this traditional view of language which hinders the work with the specificity of academic discourse and the structuration of sustainable EAP professional development.