Developing Critical Reading Literacies: From Needs Analysis to ESAP Materials

English for academic purposes preparatory courses, both general and specific (EGAP and ESAP), are now a common feature in both anglophone and non-anglophone contexts. In our experience, the majority of time and focus is spent on writing and oral presentations. While reading is required as an implicit part of these key components, reflections on our own context highlighted the relatively limited overt focus on developing critical reading skills. This need, however, was at the forefront of our findings of an extensive needs analysis with EAP specialists, content lecturers, and students for postgraduate degrees in education. In this talk we will provide a brief overview of the importance of disciplinary input and needs analysis in English for specific academic purposes (ESAP) course design. To provide a context for the design we will briefly describe the needs analysis that was carried out and summarise the key findings. The focus of the talk will revolve around the resulting materials, specifically related to developing critical reading literacies. This will be followed by the presentation of examples of tasks and texts based around Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education). By the end of the talk, the audience will have gained insights into the design of the needs analysis and will also have practical tasks that can be applied and adapted in their own contexts.