This first part of the two-part collection, Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes, presents a state-of-the-art collection of research and critical review studies of key issues in the field. Issues included in the collection are as follows: EAP and language planning, linguistic research related to EAP, the application of linguistic research to EAP, the concept of International Scientific English, the role of background knowledge in EAP competence, EAP testing and World Englishes, appropriate pedagogy in peripheral ESL contexts, the notions of power, culture and discourse community, and issues surrounding the international EAP placement tests TOEFL and IELTS.

The first, introductory chapter, by the editors, provides an overview of some of the key issues in EAP – the global need for English, the development of EAP as a discipline, the various types of EAP, EAP's defining characteristics, language description in EAP research, narrow versus wide angle perspectives on course design, collaboration with subject specialists, ethnography and culture, and critical perspectives.

The first chapter of the main body of Part I, on EAP and language planning by Chris Kennedy, begins by considering the growth of English worldwide, which Kennedy sees as a largely unplanned change. He then moves on to look at attempts by various bodies to control or expand the spread of English as an international language. This control is attempted through language planning, of which there are various types.