Review English for academic purposes: Perspectives on the past, present and future (book review)

Described on the cover as ‘new perspectives on language and education’, this is a useful resource on EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and ESP (English for Special Purposes), especially for academic researchers and practising teachers specialising in these areas. English for Academic Purposes: Perspectives on the Past, Present And Future contains eight chapters preceded by a preface asking, ‘why have I decided to write this book and who do I think should read it?’, and succeeded by an author reference and a subject reference index. The book also contains a list of common acronyms and their full names, very useful for those not fa- miliar with the subject in English. Douglas Bell teaches at Nottingham University’s branch in Ningbo, China, one of the earliest British universities to extend its operations in China. A teacher with a career-long interest in EAP and a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in the subject, his eight chapters focus on EAP’s birth and early historical development, core issues and debates, EAP pedagogy, who an EAP teacher is and how their work varies from teaching general English, the qualities of EAP materials, assessment of EAP skills, the importance of EAP as an academic discipline, its sociological implications and how it might be improved, as well as EAP’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (summarised by the pop- ular business acronym SWOT), and its future.