When there is no perfect text: Approaches to the EAP practitioner's dilemma

This practitioner-oriented paper opens with an account of the difficulties EAP materials providers encounter in finding “perfect texts” for pedagogical purposes. It then discusses two alternative options. In the first, the materials writer creates a collection of source texts for class integration and summary work; in the second, the materials writer creates an imaginary student's responses to found or adapted source material. This second case is extensively illustrated, so that it becomes available as ‘freeware’. It is therefore argued that there is merit in the occasional use of instructor-written materials in selected EAP contexts. In closing, the paper places the elaborated case study in the wider context of more needing to be known about learner and instructor roles in advanced writing courses and workshops.