Guidelines for College English Teaching—a national syllabus to be issued by the Ministry of Education for the first time integrates EAP（English for Academic Purposes）into the content of college English teaching. A Framework of Reference for EFL Teaching at Tertiary Level in Shanghai goes even further， stipulating that EAP is the required course for all freshmen in Shanghai. This new orientation of college English teaching has triggered a heated debate in the foreign language field in mainland China，partly because of a general misunderstanding of EAP. EAP differs from EGP （English for general Purposes） which is now widely implemented at tertiary institutions in that the former is needs-driven，i.e. to fulfill the needs of students’ academic studies while the latter is language-learning driven.  College English， a compulsory course for all undergraduates， has been oriented to the improvement of their English proficiency （and the scores of College English Tests on most campuses） as well as their understanding of western culture since 1980. Faced with the economic globalization and the internationalization of higher education，however， college English needs to reorient itself. If a university wants to meet the challenge to cultivate their students with international competitive competence in their disciplines，they must go global which means offering many courses in English medium instruction （EMI） and requiring students of engaging in their academic studies in English. To be tailored to the emerging needs of disciplines，college English teaching should depart from the traditional teaching content and curricular which have followed the English major， transforming from helping students to simply lay English foundation to developing their capacity to apply English in their disciplinary studies． EAP plays a role of bridging the gap between EGP and EMI. It is a language course which differs from SBE （subject-based English） and EMI. The latter aim to impart disciplinary knowledge and are usually taught by specialists （subject teachers）. EAP focuses the academic language skills，which are either transferable across disciplines or are appropriate to a particular discipline. By equipping students with such language skills as listening to lectures，read literature， write abstracts and papers， and attend academic discussion and conferences，EAP courses will guarantee students’success in their academic studies. Most importantly， EAP also nurtures their academic literacy such as the ability of independent study， critical thinking， creativity， communication and cross-culture. This forms a critical part of liberal education. For this reason，EAP should be a required course for undergraduates both of prestigious universities and of vocational colleges， even if their disciplinary courses are not EMI （English medium instruction） and students will not use English in their future careers.  Students’ needs should be guided. Their needs of learning English should not be met without rational analysis. Higher institutions，unlike the training centers of foreign languages， may steer students’ personal needs to the needs of the national foreign language capacity. The criteria for the success in English learning in modern times are neither the strength of their grammatical knowledge， nor the beauty of their spoken English even nor the high scores of their English tests. They are still a failure if they can’t read English literature in their disciplines， nor can communicate with their international counterparts. College English teaching is still a failure if those skills are not taught.