Collections of Professor Dr David Ngin Sian Pau

Epilogue

The purpose of much of the research in EAP or ESP is to determine how valid a particular theory is in explaining a particular phenomenon. The more validity a theory has, the more support it has, the more researchers can use it to guide for pedagogical practice. Nevertheless, no matter how much explanatory strength a theory has, for example, no matter how much empirical evidence has been obtained to support the theory, theories in the English language, as in other areas, are always tentative. Problems constantly arise or new facts are discovered, that do not seem to be explained by existing theories. Moreover, our ability to understand any educational phenomenon is always limited by the complexity of human behaviour. Thus, academic research and development on teaching the English language is a continuous, never-ending process of systematic inquiry for enhancing the explanatory power of theoretical discourse on EAP teaching and learning.