Does discipline matter? Pedagogical approaches to critical thinking in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and economics

Although there are many pedagogical approaches to teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), most share the objective of preparing second language (L2) learners to engage in academic study. One of these EAP approaches, the Sustained Content-based approach, includes the explicit teaching of critical thinking as part of course design. This study compared definitions of critical thinking across two disciplines, within: (1) a university-level EAP program that used the Sustained Content-based approach, and (2) within the same university's Economics Department. Economics was chosen as a contrast because it promotes thinking like an economist throughout its program of study and many of the EAP students planned to enroll in Economics for their degree program. In order to gain an understanding of how critical thinking is facilitated within each of these disciplines, six case studies were developed from interview and questionnaire data with three Economics professors and three EAP instructors. A mismatch was found between the discipline-specific definitions for critical thinking, calling into question whether critical thinking as operationalized within the Sustained Content-based EAP approach is useful. Results were triangulated with questionnaires from Political Science. Implications for teaching EAP and critical thinking are considered and potential program alternatives are discussed.