’End of Days’ or ‘A Whole New World’: What Lies Ahead for EAP? Invited opening keynote speech

On Saturday, November 22, 2025, I was very honoured to have been invited to deliver the opening keynote speech at the conference, ‘Teaching for the Future: Exploring New Paradigms of English Teaching in Sino-Foreign Joint Education’ organized by Beijing University of Technology and University College Dublin.
My presentation was titled ‘End of Days, or A Whole New World: What lies ahead for EAP?’ and in keeping with the conference theme, I sought to examine what the future might conceivably hold for tertiary-level English Language teaching, not only in Sino-Foreign educational contexts, but also across the ELT sector more globally. I began by discussing what I perceive to be some of the ongoing weaknesses and threats to the stability of EAP, but then highlighted several areas which I feel are considerable strengths and opportunities. I closed my presentation by offering six predictions for the future.