EFL Students’ Perspectives on EAP Courses: A Data-Driven Study (Research Paper)

English for Academic Purposes (Specialized English) has been vastly explored through theory-driven and questionnaire-based studies. However, exploring students’ perceptions of the materials and methods used in EAP classes has remained relatively unexplored. To give voice to EAP students, this data-driven study selected 20 undergraduate and postgraduate students through purposive sampling procedures and explored their perspectives and suggestions through open-ended qualitative interviews. Students’ perspectives were then analyzed and conceptualized according to grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1991). The cyclical process of data collection continued until the emerged categories and propositions were saturated. The credibility of the findings was also verified through member checking. The constant comparative technique yielded a set of propositions which reflect students’ perceptions of EAP practice and suggestions for improvement. Among other things, the participants suggested that EAP instruction can be enriched by adding reading fluency instruction to reading comprehension instruction, going beyond teaching subject matter instruction, responding to the students’ needs, which was found to be speaking rather than reading, and replacing lecture-based instruction with discussion-based instruction. Since these suggestions give voice to EAP students, they have clear implications for both EAP materials writers and instructors.