Inclusion has become a defining marker of quality and equity in higher education (HE), yet its operationalisation in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching remains underexplored. This paper presents the first empirical phase of a multi-stage BALEAP-funded project investigating inclusive teaching practices in EAP. Using an exploratory qualitative survey of 23 EAP practitioners across diverse institutional roles and global contexts, the study captures how inclusion is understood, enacted, and constrained within English-medium HE environments. Thematic analysis identified two overarching domains: barriers to inclusion, including limited awareness and training, prescriptive curricula, lack of diversity consideration, time constraints, and prohibitive course costs, and approaches to inclusion, encompassing differentiated instruction, culturally responsive pedagogy, reflective practice, personalised learning, and cooperative, student-centred engagement. Findings reveal that while inclusivity is widely endorsed as an ethical and pedagogical imperative, its translation into practice is hindered by structural and institutional limitations. EAP educators often navigate tensions between linguistic rigour and equity, highlighting the need for systemic frameworks that recognise inclusivity as a core professional competency rather than an optional enhancement. The study contributes novel empirical evidence by translating existing inclusion theory into an EAP context and extending the focus from individual practices to an organisational ethos, thereby providing a diagnostic foundation for subsequent project phases that develop practical and policy-oriented recommendations. It argues that meaningful inclusion requires coordinated institutional action aligning policy, curriculum, and professional development to position linguistic and cultural diversity as drivers of educational excellence rather than challenges to be managed.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)